Fortune Favours the Bold

“Tevron!” you call out with just a little excitement. The man in question looks up from a table he had been sitting at, wax tablets and parchment scrolls in neat stacks.

“Yes?” Tevron askes, hesitantly annoyed.

“So there’s this land far to the east, a vast empire with unmatched technological advancements” you begin, pulling scrolls out of a bag you were carrying them in. Tevron frowned at the scrolls before returning his gaze to you, quietly setting a tablet he had been reading to the side. “I’ve translated some of their texts and have something they call a ‘Blast Furnace’ here” you continue, dumping the scrolls on the table in front of Tevron. “Apparently they use it to melt iron like it’s copper or bronze, pouring it into stone casts” you tell him and suddenly Tevron’s eyes shoot open and he snatches one of the scrolls from the table, ripping it open to hungrily feast upon the secrets contained within.

“How but how wha- but this but” Tevron stammered, eyes wide and unblinking as he read through the document. “Yes of course, Of Course!” he said a moment later.

“Not only that, they apparently use this device to make steel” you tell the man with a smirk. You can almost hear the grinding noise in his neck as his head then slowly pivots towards you. You point at a scroll and Tevron’s head slowly pivots towards it. Ever so gingerly, Tevron reaches for the scroll and takes it with reverence. Unlike the first scroll, he opens this one like it’s a thousand year old document and begins reading it, a gleam in his eye.

“Governor! A ship was sighted! It’ll be here in an hour!” a man cried, storming into Tevron’s office. Tevron didn’t respond, eyes glued to the scroll like he was physically incapable of perceiving anything else.

“I think you’d best give that report to me, watchman” you say as the watchman looks between the two of you. “He’s a little preoccupied” you add. The watchman nods once.

“It’s a trading bireme by the looks of it but all the merchants are . . .” he says, trailing off. That would make it somewhat suspicious that a merchant ship was coming to your city.

“I best go meet these ‘merchants’” you say and the watchman nods again, striding out of the Governor’s office and leading you towards the harbour.

It wasn’t an hour before the ship arrived, you had only just gotten to the harbour when you saw the bireme glide into the harbour. A rather large vessel compared to the fishing ships and other boats around it. Apparently Dumont was caught off guard as well, only just arriving at the same time as you, with barely a dozen men and pikes to fend off a potential pirate raid.

“Never fear Dumont, there’d only be a couple dozen of them” you tell the man as he lumbered up beside you. It was good having another man to see eye to eye with.

“Perhaps” the Frank replied, nodding in the direction of the ship. You turn your gaze and see a woman standing on the gunwall of the bow. She had her hand over her eyes to shield from the sun and stood in the classical, stereotypical stance of the adventuring woman. As the ship glided to a halt, the straightened up but before she could do anything else, the ship’s prow hit the pier and caused the girl to go tumbling forwards. Somehow, she managed to clear the post that was tying the mast to the prow and as she toppled over it, her foot caught the rope tying the mast, causing her to flip into a somersault and land gracefully on her feet. You stare in a mixture of awe and amazement as the girl straightened her knee length tunic, brushing a few loose strands of her dark brown hair back into the messy ponytail she had it in.

“I’m okay!” the girl stated “Totally meant to do that!” she said again though everybody was too busy staring at her with their jaws on the floor. This was the moment she saw you and made her way over to you, striding right up until she was very much inside of your personal space, standing on her tiptoes to try and get in your face. “You, mister, have something of mine!” she told you, her hands on her hips and her body tilted forward just enough for you to see her lack of a bra or anything to contain her breasts. “Hey! Eyes up here pal!” she snapped.

“Sorry, it’s a common problem I have” you apologize, raising your hands in mock surrender. “I probably have something that belongs to a lot of different, innocent people at the moment . . . I did just get done wiping out a whole bunch of bandits” you tell the woman.

“My sword! You have my sword!” the girl snapped, jamming a finger into your chest. You think for a moment and then a familiar sensation of godly power tickles your mind.

“Would it happen to be a longer than average blade, slightly silvery?” you ask and the girl nods. “Currently a subordinate of mine is holding onto it, but yes I do have it” you say. “It is, however, polite to introduce oneself before demanding their wrongfully stolen goods be returned as if the person who hath rescued said stolen goods was the one to steal them in the first place” you say all in one breath while giving the girl a piercing look. Fortuna reared back like she’d been slapped, blinking a few times.

“Oh, uhh, Fortuna” she mutters, rubbing the back of her head as she subtly glanced around her.

“Ahh, like that old Roman goddess! After that stunt you just pulled, I can see why” you comment and Fortuna nodded.

“Yes” she agreed unconvincingly “like the old Roman goddess, my parents totally named me after her because of uhh . . . luck . . . yes” she said. You snort before turning around and heading off. “Wait! My sword!” she says.

“It’s not on me” you tell the girl and she blushes before mumbling something. You just manage to hold back a laugh at the girl’s antics. “Welcome to the Pantheon I suppose” you fire over your shoulder as you turn to leave.

“Wait! What’s that supposed to mean!” Fortuna calls out, rushing after you.

“There’s me and Artemis, and now we have you, welcome to the resistance” you reply over your shoulder as the girl caught up.

“Resistance? You’re actually trying to fight that guy? And wait a minute! Don’t I get a say?” Fortuna demanded.

“You haven’t said no or ‘I’m not gonna’ yet” you point out and Fortuna spluttered.

“Tha-that’s just because . . .” Fortuna stammered, trailing off “I’m just following you to get my sword back!” she snapped.

“Sure” you agree.

“You’re just gonna agree? Not even gonna try and convince me?” she asked, as if offended.

“You just said no so . . .” you say, shrugging. “If you’re just here for your sword then I won’t stop you from leaving” you add. You don’t need eyes in the back of your head to know Fortuna was frowning.

“Besides, what would you even have me do? Bless the statues that everyone loves to rub?” Fortuna asked rhetorically.

“Well, I do need a sea god . . . we don’t have one,” you say casually, turning down a street as you head for the barracks.

“I uhh well umm” Fortuna stammered “I suppose I might be able to do . . . that” she replied in a small voice.

“Glad to have you onboard! Welcome to the Pantheon!” you cheered.

“Wait! I didn’t say yes that wasn’t a yes!” she snapped back, stomping her foot a couple times in childish anger. “Hey! Wait up! Why do your legs have to be so damn long!” she snapped before racing after you again.