by Kevin Culp
We stood there like that for probably ten or twenty minutes, when I heard something coming up behind us. I turned and saw that it was Zeus coming upon us. I stared at him.
“Did you catch anything?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Where is it?”
He opened his mouth wide then barked happily.
“Are you saying you ate it?”
He nodded excitedly.
Well, I guess I should have thought about that beforehand. Zeus is theoretically intelligent, but that is to say, he has an intelligence score of around 6. Enough to understand simple language, but I guess just telling him to go hunt didn’t mean hunt and bring it to us.
I looked at Christina. “Do you want to go home?”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.
Zeus saw her and seemed to at least understand she had been crying. He walked up and licked her face. It seemed to cheer her up a bit at least.
I climbed on to Zeus and pulled up Christina. It wasn’t quite the same as the first time. When I felt her press up to me it was less of excitement from the feeling, and more a desire to protect her. We rode back into town in silence.
By the time we got back, Christina seemed to be her normal cheery carefree self, but I could tell she was still thinking about her mother. I normally couldn’t read people very well, but Archaeus had a good sense motive, so I’m guessing that was why it was so obvious to me.
She hopped down from Zeus by herself and looked up at me. “That was a blast, Sir Velnir. I hope we get to do it again sometime soon,” then she walked inside.
I told Zeus to head into the woods, and he went that direction at walking speed.
Hearing the story about what happened with Christina’s mom really made me question how she had been carrying that weight for so long. I’m pretty bad with people but just from the story, it sounds like the man was after her and just settled for her mom. Even if that isn’t the case, she probably has some guilt with the fact that if she had been the one to walk out there, her mom never would have been taken. Of course, had she been taken that probably would have ruined her mother and father, and who knows where I’d be now?
As I thought that, I really had to question myself. The dream “me” was pretty brutal. Maybe I was just trying to create a good story for Archaeus in my mind, but I actually felt bad for Christina even if she was an NPC that I dreamed up for my own personal story.
Dan was normally the GM, but I had run a few games in all the years that I had been playing. I guess really for a quest to exist for the players there had to be something wrong in the world. It often involved murder, kidnappings, and the like, but when you think about it, that has your characters living in a pretty depressing world.
Truthfully, when I’m playing a tabletop game, I hear these sad stories and start to get excited because it means my character gets to solve the mysteries and resolve the issues. I guess if all this was in the real world, it would just be a tragedy, and no one could be happy about that.
I really wasn’t sure how to feel about myself now. Maybe I should feel like this is a mystery for Archaeus to solve, but I don’t think so. Real or fantasy solving a kidnapping that happened five years ago with no leads whatsoever is pretty much impossible. I think this is more just a part of a tragic backstory that an NPC has to deal with. I actually feel bad though, thinking of Christina as just an NPC after all she’s done for me.
If this world was real, what would Archaeus do? He would probably just try to comfort the girl and help her see that none of it was her fault. At the end of the day though, if I were Archaeus I probably wouldn’t even be in a little town like Freid with no crime or need for a knight of justice.
I rode for what only felt like an hour, but when I started paying attention, it seemed that I had lost track of time. The sun still seemed to be up, but it was dark due to the tree canopy covering the road. These trees were much taller than the ones from before. I tried to think of what kind of trees they were. They actually seemed very familiar like I actually should know though I’m not a nature nut, and I couldn’t think of it.
I noticed red in my vision. “Nature knowledge training requirements not met.”
Well, I guess I should have expected that. Kreego was the knowledge junkie of our playgroup. The only knowledge training Archaeus had was religion. At least I was able to recognize the gnome. I’ve played with GM’s before that would make you roll a local knowledge for that, but most just assume you know the standard races.
Archaeus had a pretty good intelligence though for a paladin, mostly just due to my high initial rolls for my attributes, so I had several skills with decent training. I had high diplomacy, animal handling, religion knowledge, good perception, sense motive, and a bit of training in riding, climbing, swimming, and a few other skills. I also had enough points in blacksmithing that I should be able to make some high-quality basic gear pretty easy but never used it.
Suddenly, I heard some rustling in the woods ahead of me. It was obvious to me that there were a few creatures of decent size hiding ahead because of my perception, but I didn’t know what it was. Maybe my dream was going to be cliché for a moment, and I was going to be ambushed by bandits. I actually didn’t mind the thought of that. I hadn’t really got to fight that guy at all earlier and still wanted the chance to fight as Archaeus.
I continued forward.
As expected, two men casually stepped into the path wearing leather armor and equipped with short swords and short bows. They actually looked like Orcs to me which I hadn’t seen yet in this world. They had green skin and some small tusk-like teeth jutting up from their lower jaws. One had a shaved head, and the other had long black hair. The one with the shaved head also had a spear on his back that looked pretty decent in quality.
“Ruk targ o’gar shurn to’var” the bald one spoke, but I had no clue what he was saying. I wish I still had my Amulet of the linguist.
“I don’t understand what you are saying do you speak common?” It hadn’t even occurred to me until now that I guess my brain was just translating common as being English because I had understood everyone so far.
He repeated himself more forcefully than the first time.
“I… don’t…. understand… you.” I knew talking slowly wouldn’t really help but what else could I do.
He gestured at his sword and then nodded at me and pointed at the ground. As I had expected, this was a “stick up.”
“Let me handle this alone okay Zeus. Just protect yourself if you’re attacked.”
Zeus nodded as I climbed down.
I drew my sword, and all hell broke loose. Four more Orcs jumped out from the bushes brandishing swords and spears. The front one let out a battle cry and charged at me. He was slow…
I used my left hand to grab the shaft of the spear and pull while simultaneously thrusting forward with my long sword in my right hand. The Orc seemed to be caught off guard and stumbled as I grabbed the spear.
My sword hit his chest and I could feel as it sliced through his armor, then flesh, bones, and organs all like butter as it erupted from his back. It felt gruesome, and I almost wretched as his eyes fluttered and convulsed up into his skull. This was not what I had imagined combat to be like. The other Orcs seemed to become enraged at the sight of this, and all charged me at once.
I went to pull the sword from the orc and ended up pulling it straight up through the Orc's shoulder instead of pulling it straight out as I had intended. The stench from all the blood made me want to gag. I couldn’t believe how sharp this sword was.
The Orcs all swung at me and I sidestepped, ducked, and dodged. One hit my breastplate, but I probably wouldn’t have even noticed had it not been for the clang of metal. I swung my sword from the side at the neck of an Orc and he was quickly headless, but the sword continued moving. It swung through the shoulder and halfway through the torso of the Orc next to him. That must have been my cleaving ability.
They both f
ell.
There were three Orcs left, and they didn’t seem to be backing down in spite of how easily I had killed their friends. I’m not sure if I wasn’t attacking much faster than them just because I wanted this to seem like normal paced combat or because I had to activate my extra attacks from my level. I focused on using all my attacks and swung.
It was a blur of steel. Even though it was my body moving, I could barely follow what happened. First, I chopped into the side of the abdomen of the one on the left. Then, pulled the sword back and stabbed through the chest of the one in the middle. Finally, I whirled around and beheaded the third. I stood there with my sword extended as if to shake the blood from it.
They were all dead and lying here in a bloody mess. Guts spilled out of the one I had chopped into his stomach, and the two I had beheaded seemed to have eyes that stared at me even in death. It was all a sickening sight.
Zeus was wagging his tail like this was a normal day. I looked away from the gore and climbed up on his back. I realized that I was getting blood in his white fur and on his clean saddle. I could feel it dripping off my chin.
“Let’s go back to town Zeus.”
Chapter 5
I could tell that people were staring at me as I rode into town covered in blood, but they all looked away when I even glanced in their direction. I’m pretty sure that after getting into that fight in front of the tavern and now riding back into town like this, I was going to get some kind of infamous reputation. Hopefully, people couldn’t see it all that well because it was starting to get dark.
I got back to the tavern and dismounted, “Stay here Zeus.”
He nodded and laid down.
I walked in and immediately attracted stares from all the patrons. I’m guessing that walking into the tavern like this, I probably looked like something straight out of a horror story.
“Oh my god, what happened?” Christina gasped and ran to me.
She grabbed my arm and started checking me over obviously trying to find wounds. I just stood there frozen while she looked me over. Finally, I found my voice.
“I’m not hurt. I was attacked by Orcs out in the woods,” The words actually came out with kind of a nonchalant attitude, though I certainly didn’t feel that way.
“You were attacked by Orcs, and you aren’t hurt? I assumed you were strong Sir Velnir but did you fight them off all by yourself.”
“There weren’t many, only about six of them.”
“You fought six Orcs by yourself!!!” Christina seemed really shocked. I mean I guess to a commoner orcs were a threat, but I think I’m still level 20 Archaeus and Orcs are only an average challenge for level 1 characters.
“I’ve fought much tougher monsters than Orcs before. It’s really no big deal.” Even as I said it, I felt it was a lie to myself. Combat was scary and disgusting, but I guess to Archaeus it wasn’t a big deal, so I seemed to have actually said it.
“Do you want me to get you a bath together?”
“Yes, that sounds very nice.”
People in the tavern were actively avoiding looking in my direction, which really just told me they were watching me closely. I’m sure to commoners the strange guy that showed up covered in blood claiming to have single-handedly defeated six Orcs was either a liar, a hero, or just plain dangerous.
After a few moments, Christina returned. “Sir Velnir, your bath is ready.”
I followed her into the back. She led me behind the counter, through the kitchen, and to another room off to the side. It was just a small room with a large wooden tub in the corner. I could see steam coming off the water. I heard the door close and started to take off my breastplate then felt a hand that wasn’t my own touch my side. It was Christina. I looked at her.
She seemed startled. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want me to turn around while you got undressed?”
I thought about it for a moment and realized that in this world it wouldn’t really be unusual for a tavern girl to help a guest that was a noble wash themselves. It probably wasn’t even the first time she had, which oddly made me a little sad to think about. Would it be considered rude to ask her to leave? It just felt weird to let her give me a bath. Archaeus would probably think it was disrespectful to not let her do her job given that it isn’t like she’s being forced to do this.
“It’s fine. I think my nerves are just still a little on edge after combat.”
She unfastened the buckles on the sides of the breastplate, and I held my arms out and she slid it over my head. I took off my shirt and could see in her eyes she was trying to hide her surprise. I looked down at my body.
I wasn’t surprised to see muscular pecks and full-on abs, but the number of scars I saw did shock me. Some were smooth and long as if they had been made with a blade, while others seemed to be jagged as if they had been made by claws or teeth. There was a particularly nasty one on my shoulder that looked like it had been scarred by teeth and burned.
Thinking back, I remembered a pretty nasty fight against some hellhounds where I was being flanked by two of them. The one behind me landed a critical hit, and Dan described it as he had latched into my shoulder and how I could feel his flaming breath burning away on the wound. I wondered if I had a scar for every time I ever had a critical hit confirmed against me.
I took off my boots, then belt, then pants, and underwear. As expected, I had several more scars on my legs, and I’m certain my back looked the same. I climbed into the water. It was hot and felt good on my muscles. They weren’t exactly sore, but I guess they had tensed up from my reaction to combat. The water was already turning red.
Christina took a towel and picked up one of my arms and started washing me. “Where did you get all of these scars, Sir Velnir? I would have never believed it just looking at you. I mean I know you look strong, but you seem far too kind to be a warrior.”
“Well, I’m not sure how kind I am, but I get these scars fighting for people that can’t protect themselves mostly, and I have been fighting for a long time.” I tried to make myself sound cool, but my nerves were still shot from my encounter.
“Christina, can you just call me Archaeus. I don’t want you to feel like you have to show me some kind of respect due to a title. Honestly, I don’t even feel like I deserve the title at this point.”
“From everything I’ve seen so far, I definitely think you deserve it,” she paused for a moment, “But if you will really allow me to call you Archaeus, I would be honored to do so.”
I looked her in the eyes and was grateful that I had met her in this world. For a moment, I thought about trying to lean in and kiss her, but I’m sure she would stop me. Even if she didn’t, I’m guessing she wasn’t the damsel in distress Archaeus needed to find and fall in love with so I probably couldn’t. I splashed my face with water.
“It always feels nice to have a good bath after a battle.” I tried to sound like a warrior, mostly to get away from the moment we were seemingly having.
Christina sighed. “I’m sure it is. I know after any kind of physical work, a bath is nice just to wash off the sweat. I can only imagine when you’re covered in blood.” She seemed to be a little flustered for some reason.
We continued on in silence for a short while just letting her give me a bath. I took the towel to wash my lower body.
She handed me a fresh towel. “I’m going to go get you something to wear, and I’ll make sure to wash your clothes. Do you want me to clean your armor as well?”
“Umm… Sure, it’s magic so you should be able to just use water without having to worry about it rusting.”
“Okay.”
She left the room, and I was somewhat glad to be alone for a moment with time to gather my thoughts. I quickly dried myself off and wrapped the towel around my lower body just before the door reopened.
Christina handed me a tunic and some trousers. “I’m sorry if they don’t fit they belong to my papa.”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay. I shouldn’t be traveling
without a change of clothes anyway.”
Christina turned around as I put them on.
I followed Christina out of the room and she walked me to a seat at the bar. There was a plate of food there waiting for me along with some water.
“You should eat. I’m going to wash your clothes and then I need to start preparing for breakfast tomorrow,” she said.
I sat down and started to eat. I honestly didn’t even pay attention to what it was that I was eating. All of Christina’s meals that I’d had so far were delicious, but I was so lost in thought that I really couldn’t taste anything.
As she worked, I looked through the door behind the bar and watched her. She was coming in and out from the back with buckets of water, and I would assume going into the room I had bathed in. I didn’t pay attention to whether there was some kind of drain in the tub but there must have been because I didn’t see her carry any water outside.
The old barkeep looked at me. “I really wish you would just leave Christina alone. She seems to like you, but the last thing she needs is some strange man showing up in her life and then taking off after she’s fixed him.”
I sat there and thought about what he was saying. I’m not sure how close Christina felt we were. We had only known each other for a day after all, but in that time, she had done her best to help me however she could. I actually kind of felt that it was just the kind of person she was. The kind that always wants to help people however she can and can’t stand to see others in any kind of distress. Honestly, that’s the kind of person I should be while “role-playing” as Archaeus.
Archaeus was a little different though. He understands that a person should focus on the problems that utilize their talents to the fullest extent. Because of this, he would focus on problems requiring someone highly skilled in combat and diplomacy and probably not focus on helping out with the little things unless it could cause something really catastrophic to happen.
