The quest

We made camp about a mile from the town that I had found myself in, it wasn’t until now that I had realised it was called Tuscow.

“How did you not even know where you were?” Semmy the elf said to me.

“I was already quite drunk when I arrived, and I didn’t bother asking the name of the town.” I said to her.

We had erected our tents, and started a campfire with fallen logs acting as seats for us. I was given a shabby spare tent and tattered bedroll, but at least I had something to shelter me from the weather, and something to sleep on. We had all gathered around the fire before retiring for the night, and I was given a simple and plain meal and some wine to drink.

“I’ll go through the details of our quest, Coal.” Bentley started to explain. “We are to delve into a dungeon and acquire a gemstone for a wizard. It will be guarded by monsters, and we all agreed at the tavern that your fighting skills will come in handy for us.”

“Where did you learn to fight like that, anyhow?” Asked Rain, she gave me an inquisitive look.

“From a talented fighter. He was a warrior monk who specialised in martial arts. He taught me everything I know.” I told the group.

“I meant the magic you used in that fight.” Rain reiterated.

“Oh, that’s an inherited skill.” I said. “Something I gained thanks to my father.”

“Your father must have been a talented kobold then?” Asked Bentley.

“That’s a story for another time.” I said with a finality of the conversation. They took the hint quickly and shifted the conversation about the preparation for tomorrow. As it approached midnight, everyone started to go to their tents to sleep and be ready for the quest bright and early in the morning. I went to my tent to get some shit eye, it was cramped with just me inside, but fit the purpose for now.

The next morning, we were off to the dungeon, which wasn’t too far from where we were camped, about an hours hike. We approached a stone door that was built into a cliff side, it looked too thick for weapons to penetrate it.

Rain came towards the door and stroked it whilst murmuring unintelligible words under her breath. The stone shook then slowly swung open to reveal an entrance that showed stairs descending deeper into the cliff side.

“Ready?” Bentley spoke out, and not waiting for an answer, he took the lead down the stairs. We all followed after him, we lit torches to give ourselves light to our surroundings. The passageway that descended was narrow, only big enough for all of us to go down in a single file. As we reached the bottom, the area became more open. Torches fixed onto the walls lit up at our entering the room, the light of the fire illuminated every corner, mailing it easy to see now. We extinguished our own torches, no longer seeing a reason to have them lit and give ourselves another free hand.

It was then that I got a better look around, and saw skeletons strewn about the room, all wearing rusted armour and carrying dull and worn weapons and shields. An iron gate could be seen in the distance, and beyond that, an eerie glow seeped through the bars, into another room. But before we could make another step, the skeletons started moving and rose to stand.

“On guard, everyone!” Exclaimed Bentley.

Upon this, the party drew their weapons. Bentley had his sword and shield ready, his wife, Kellia, followed suit, drawing her own sword and readying her shield. Semmy nocked her bow with an arrow, taking aim at one of the skeletons. Rain wielded a mace in her right hand, and a misshaped stick in the other. I took a fighting stance and readied my fists for the oncoming battle.

The skeletons advanced to us, lifting their weapons high to strike, but leaving themselves open. The first one that came at me, I struck it directly in the sternum, knocking it flying backwards and shattering into pieces. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bentley and Kellia working in tandem with each other, working in great sync. They took down two skeletons easily at the same time, swiping and slashing with their swords. Semmy shot an arrow into the skull of a skeleton, its head flew off and the rest of it collapsed into a pile of its own bones. She quickly nocked another arrow and performed the same action at another skeleton before it could get close to Kellia. Rain dodged an oncoming attack, and in that window of opportunity, swung her mace to connect into the rib cage of a skeleton, and it fell in a heap. As another skeleton came at her, she raised her stick at it, and mutter some words. The Skelton caught fire and its bones became blackened and charred before it fell forwards and hit the ground bursting into disintegrated ash.

I ran ahead and channeling fire into my punches, started hitting multiple skeletons, watching them shatter into bits from my hits. I saw one skeleton manage to sneak behind Rain, and was about to strike her in the back. I sprinted towards it, jumping in the air and throwing a punch out at the same time. Rain, possibly sensing the oncoming doom about to be thrusted upon her, turned her head to look over her shoulder. She was in shock, and wasn’t able to turn around to face the skeleton quickly enough to defend herself. Luckily, I reached them through the air, and I struck the skeleton square in its jaw, and then it flew backwards, hitting the wall and bursting into pieces. As I landed on my feet, I looked back to Rain.

“Are you ok?” I asked her. She nodded at me, and readied herself for more combat. There wasn’t many foes left, and we swiftly destroyed the remains skeletons. We took a quick breather, composing ourselves and checking for any wounds. No one was hurt during the fight.

“Good work everyone. Let’s carry on.” Bentley spoke out to us all. I only took one step until I felt a hand at my shoulder. I turned to see the hand belonged to Rain.

“Thank you, Coal.” She said. “For saving me.”

“No problem.” I grinned at her. “Couldn’t let a fine piece of ass like you come to harm.” Rain gasped at my comment and I could swear I saw her blush slightly.

We ventured further inside the dungeon, opening the gate, it creaked loudly as it was pulled open. We then came into another room, this too was illuminated with torches fixed at the walls. In the middle, was a tombstone, around it there was littered weapons, looking worn and rusted. At the end of the room, I could see a glowing item on a pedestal, it must have been the gemstone that Be they spoke of.

A low rumble could be heard, then the lid of the tombstone busted open, and out stepped a figure fully clad in armour from head to toe.

“A **** knight.” Confirmed Bentley. “We’ve got this.”

The **** knight stood at seven feet tall and looked imposing, it picked up two great swords in each hand and then charged towards us. Bentley and Kelly’s were the first to engage, Semmy provided firing support, but her arrows couldn’t penetrate the armour. The **** knight was fast, swinging its weapons with ease, and causing the paladins to go defensive. Rain used fire bolts from a distance, only managing to singe the armour, and not making much progress. The attacks that Bentley and Kellia somehow made, barely scratched or dented the **** knights armour. Visible damage could be seen on the shields of the paladins, and something needs to be done before they became completely defenceless to the **** knights attacks.

I rushed forward and in between Bentley and Kellia, they were surprised to see me and had to pull back to avoid a deadly swipe from the **** knight. The undead foe seemed to be caught off guard at my presence, but still slashed at me with furious speed. I ducked down low, the swords missing me, and then channels fire into my fists and punched the enemy directly in the chest. It stepped back, and I could see a large dent in the armour from where I struck it. I didn’t relent, and attacked again before it tried to strike me. I threw a devastating punch at its wrist, and disarmed it, and repeated the same attack again. It was no weapon less, this was when I unleashed a flurry of punches, damaging it further. The only sounds that reverberated in the room, were my grunts, and the impact sounds of my fists against the **** knight. I attacked the knees of the foe, bringing it down to my level now, giving it no chance for escape or to run at me.

With a loud yell from me, I channelled more fire magic into a single fist, by transferring it from my left fist to only be into my right one. I pulled back and tensed my bicep, then threw the punch and made contact with the helmet, my fist ran through and out the other side, killing the creature. The only way that the **** knight stayed up, was due to my arm being through the hole of the helmet that I created. With a grunt, I pulled my fist back and out the skull of the **** knight, and it crashed to the floor.

“That was amazing, Coal!” Bentley cheered. “I was in complete awe. You took it down with such style!”

The rest of the party praised me for taking on the **** knight almost single handedly, I enjoyed the acknowledgment and admiration I was given. It was a different feeling to the usual sneers and cold shoulders I used to receive.

We came up to the pedestal that held the gemstone, it shined with a green glow and had a unique cut about it. Bentley picked it up and held it high as he examined it. The gemstone was shaped like an icosahedron, with different runes carved on the twenty faces.

“Our goal is accomplished, my friends.” He told us as he placed it in a small brown sack. “Next is to give this to the wizard, and the quest is complete.”

We soon left the dungeon and headed back to the town of Tuscow, this is where the wizard was living. Upon entering g his abode, I was met with the scent of sulphur and a smell I wasn’t familiar with. The wizard was sitting behind a desk and busying him self over a dissected frog. The different smell was stronger as I got closer, I came to the conclusion it was methanol, judging by the labelled flask next to the wizard. What he was doing with it, I didn’t know.

The wizard looked like your typical magic user, old and gangly, with a greying beard that came down to his naval. A wrinkled face and tired looking eyes. He looked up with those same eyes at us as we came up to his desk.

“Have you done it?” He croaked.

“Yes, we have acquired the gemstone, wizard Philonius.” Said Bentley, he pulled out the sack containing the gemstone.

“Call me Phil, rolls of the tongue better.” Said the wizard. He then took the sack and peeked inside. The green glow of the gemstone illuminated at Phil’s face, a crooked and toothy smile appeared on his face.

“Excellent!” He whooped. He then handed Bentley a different sack. “Here’s your reward, for a job well done.”

Bentley took the sack and thanked him, we then took our leave and gathered outside.

“Well, I think we should get back to camp, and get ourselves ready to celebrate our achievements.” Bentley said to us all.

“What type of celebration?” I asked. “Hopefully it’s one with drink.”

“It is indeed. The reward can go towards it. Tonight we will make merry as if we are kings and queen!” Bentley yelled.

Unaware at the time for me, it would be a celebration to remember, and a night of firsts, as I would find out tonight.