This is the novelization of the video series 'Dungeons and Dragons' by the Youtube channel Node. I encourage you to watch the videos. This is how I got the feel of DnD. I have a lot of lines because I'm changing character narrating a lot.

Vengeance: Chapter One

Beast Within

A small forest north of the coast, filled with beasts, and a barbarian tribe. Surrounded by forest, several small huts lay in the forest. It was definitely a beautiful sight to see as the 9 sat around a campfire, some with children, others alone or with wives. Let us venture into the mind of three of these 9 and see what they think.

Darien the Ranger sat at the campfire, warmth heating his body, as well as the heat of her leaning against him. Myra, his bond, his loved one. Safety. The noises from the woods? Didn't bother him. He used the woods as cover. He looked around at his two companions. They too looked happy with their wives and children.

Not planning to impregnate my wife soon.

Darien put his arm around Myra and stared into the fire.

The fire entranced Nohki, much like his druid magic entranced others. Being a rebellious druid, he had a wife and daughter, both leaning up against. Lily, his love, and Maple, his daughter, both were also entranced by the fire's flare. He saw Darien looking around and smiled, then looked to the tribe champion.

Bran didn't earn his wife, as most people thought. His sword had been dirtied many times for her, but even though he was a champion when challengers came, he married her for love.

Suddenly, Bran felt a hand on his shoulder. He expected it to be Steve his son. He looked up and saw the tribe elder, covered in rags, exposing his frail bones and skin.

"Today is the day of the hunt. You need to feed our tribe with food. I sense food to the direct north of here. I sensed…an elk, a deer, perhaps more, it is up to you three to hunt down one of these creatures for food, and bring it back to the tribe," said the village elder, gesturing to Nohki, Darien and Bran, who stood up.

Nohki heard something coming through the trees. Hoofsteps. He looked towards the sound to see a horse-drawn wagon coming into view. The driver pulled on the reins, making the twin horses stop. He hopped out of the wagon, grunting as he hit the ground, and approached them.

Nohki saw Bran reach for his greatsword. He looked back at the driver and saw he wasn't very well built and had a hat upon his head. He looked as if he lived a comfortable life, no worry's, just traveling around in his wagon.

"Ahoy, tribesmen, I come in peace," said the driver, thus putting up his hands.

Nohki approached the wagon. "I bring gifts. I see, I see your worn leathers. I see, I see your low rations. I, I bring gifts. We have a town, a-a burgeoning economy, not too far away. I bring gifts. I do not…want to harm you. I come in peace."

The driver reached into the wagon and brought out a fine suit of scale mail. "Please, take this. Remember it as a token from our society to yours." He looked towards Bran. "Here, you look strong."

Nohki went back to Bran and Darien. They turned around.

"I'm worried. We've never interacted with them. They might be bringing some sort of disease," Bran said. Nohki smiled, remembering the stories of plague he had told Bran from which Bran had learned such caution.

Nohki heard the driver approaching. He turned around. "I will give you the scale mail, 20 steel tipped arrows and as much grain as you want."

"We graciously accept," Nohki said. The driver put down the gifts.

"I bid you farewell," he said. He hopped back onto the wagon and rode off. The elder walked over and inspected the grains.

"Well, this can feed us, but there is great honor in the hunt," he declared.

"I'm up for hunting," Nohki said.

"I usually hunt every day, so, yes," Darien replied.

Nohki looked at Bran, who nodded. His son, Steve, walked up to him.

"Father, are you going hunting?"

"Yes."

"May I come?"

"No."

Steve sighed and walked off. The three gathered on the north side of the camp.

"I can speak with animals," said Nohki, "so I can find a bird and find the location of these animals. Then the hunt will be over."

"You mean like what we do every day?" Darien asked.

"Every day," said Nohki.

Darien grabbed his bow and quiver, along with the new steel tipped arrows, and walked out of camp with Nohki, Bran following behind, after struggling to get the scale mail on.

Soon they encountered a bird flying through the trees. It sat upon a branch not so high up. Nohki grabbed his pendant, a circular piece of wood with a spiral upon it and leaves wrapped around it's outside. He used it to cast a spell to speak with the beasts of the forest.

"What is the biggest four legged animal you have seen today."

"An elk, to the north."

An image of where the elk was was in Nohki's mind. The bird started to fly away. "Wait, did you see anything weird in the forest?" Nohki asked.

"Suck my dick," the bird said, obviously annoyed, and flew even further away.

"There's an elk not too far from here," Nohki said.

"What else did the bird say?" Darien asked.

"Um…nothing."

Darien saw the elk through the trees. He moved closer, without making a sound. Soon he was only two trees away from it. He looked back and saw Nohki and Bran circling around. He moved closer, into range. He drew his bow, placing an arrow in it.

He took a deep breath and fired. It hit the elk, right in the neck, burrowing itself in there. The elk kicked and bucked, and then fell over. Nohki and Bran appeared by the elk. "Good job!" Bran exclaimed.

Bran was used to Darien killing something with two shots, and one shot was rare. Then, Bran heard something coming from the south. Heavy breathing. He moved towards the sound. He looked behind a tree and saw a massive bear! Oh god!

"There's a bear!" Bran shouted.

Darien heard those words. He ran towards the elk and saw it. He had this. With a shot like the one he did to the elk, he was bound to hit it. He loaded his bow, pulled back and fired. The arrow went over the bear, not even close!-and hit the nearest tree.

Bran ran towards the bear, and sliced at it. He drew a line of blood across it's hide. The bear started to turn toward him and made a roar that shook Bran's bones.

Nohki took his club and ran at the bear. He hit it in the face, and heard the crack of bone. The bear roared at Nohki and made an attempt to bite him. Nohki jumped back, just as the bear's jaw clamped shut. It slashed at with it's claw and fell short.

Darien cocked his bow. He wasn't going to be cocky this time. He concentrated and fired, hitting the bear's neck!

An arrow from Darien's bow hit the bear in the neck. It roared, and Nohki saw a look of sadness come across it's face. It coughed out blood and roared again!

Bran raised his sword and brought it down on the bear. It's head came clean off, blood spurting everywhere. The rest of the bear's body fell over. Darien ran over.

"Have you ever seen one of your arrows do something like that to a bear?" Bran asked.

"I'm impressed… from that distance…" Darien started.

"Have you ever seen one of your baby arrows do something like that to a bear? You just put holes in it."

"What?" Darien asked.

"Ugh. Have your arrows ever made a bear's head fall clean off like that? Your arrows just put holes in it and ruin that best hide."

"Well, Mr. Bear Slayer, I'm going to go over to the elk and skin it and you can take care of the bear. Big man, big bear."

"Okay. Fair enough."

After they took care of the bear and the elk, they decided to rest. Bran suddenly felt sick, with a sore throat and itchy skin. He started frantically scratching. Agh! It hurt.

"Guys, I have a sore throat and my skin itches."

"Oh no," Nohki said, "You must have mini-pox."

Bran sighed. "This must have to do with the trader we talked to earlier, so everyone at the camp is already exposed. And when we get to the camp, we need to get all the stuff we got from him…away."

While Bran was saying this, Darien was repeating: "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him, I knew we shouldn't have trusted him."

Darien turned to Nohki. "Are you sick?"

"I feel okay."

"I feel fine," Darien said.

"I mean…I feel totally fine…" Nohki started.

"I'm the one wearing the scale mail," Bran said.

"Maybe it was just the mail, but if they, if they put something in the scale mail…"

"The grain," Bran said.

"I'm gonna run back to camp to make sure nobody eats the grain."

"You do that," Darien said.

Nohki ran back to the village, as fast as he can, panting. His legs were burning.

Must get there. Then you can rest.

He reached the camp and saw something unbelievable. In their camp were three soldiers. The soldier furthest from Nohki was over the dead bodies of…Lily…and…Maple. Myra, Steve and Matilda (Bran's Wife) were nowhere to be found. The tribe elder was on the ground, blood, but alive. Bran and Darien came up behind Nohki and gasped.

Where's Myra? She might be alive. I hope.

Darien drew his bow and aimed for the soldier. God, where was Myra? His hands were shaking, and he let loose the arrow. It missed the soldier. The bow string ricocheted back against his hand, cutting it. Argh.

Bran was angry, but sad. He charged at the soldier over the elder.

Knock him into the fire.

Shaken by sadness, Bran missed the soldier, tripped, and fell into the fire. Some of his skin was burned. He grit his teeth.

Nohki stepped up to behind a tree. He cast a fire spell. A ball of fire appeared in his hand. He took a step forward and hurled it an the soldier everyone had attempted to attack. It hit his cloak.

"AAAAAH!" the soldier screamed. He turned to see Nohki. The others turned as well.

"Oh god," he said.

The soldier over Lily and Maple flicked the blood off his spear. A guard by one of the tents turned towards the tent.

"Help, help!" said a voice from the tent.

The flaming soldier charged towards Nohki. He thrust his spear at him and missed.

"Myra!" Darien screamed. He knew that voice anywhere. The soldier outside the tent thrust his spear into the tent, trying to kill Myra. His spear got caught on his sleeve and he cut his other arm.

"Faaaaaa," he said. Darien aimed his bow and fired at the soldier. It hit his bloody arm, going through one side and coming out the other. He turned towards Darien, fear resonating in his eyes.

A soldier was trying to stab Bran, hitting the ashes with horrible aim. Bran got up, jumped out of the fire behind the guard and swung his sword. The burned part caused pain through his body, but the sword did the work. The guard's head flew off, into the fire.

Nohki took out a knife and slashed the flaming soldier across the chest. Through a slit, blood started spurting out. As he screamed, he thrust his spear at Nohki, missing. Nohki saw the guard by the tent start fleeing, running as fast as he could with his bloody arm.

You're not getting away.

Darien started sprinting after the soldier, not bothering to be silent. After a minute, he saw the guard through the trees. He took his bow and fired at him. Shockingly, the bow hit the guard in the head, which exploded, blood, bones and brain flying everywhere. The body fell and his remnants soaked in his blood.

He turned to the west to see a farm house and a bridge. A wagon went over the bridge. Darien turned around and ran back to camp.

Bran ran towards the last surviving soldier. He came up behind him and sliced at him. Assorted body parts flew into the nearby tree and over Nohki.

"Agh! Gross! Got in my mouth!" Nohki said. Darien ran back into the camp. Nohki ran over to his wife and child and started crying.

Darien ran out of the woods and towards the tent he heard his wife. He jumped over one of the dead bodies, and ran into the tent. Myra was alive!

"Myra, you're alive."

"Oh Darien, oh Darien," she said.

"Myra! Did they hurt you?

"No, but they killed everyone else. But they took Matilda and Lil Steve. They took them as slaves. The sergeants took them. Took them to town."

Myra came out of the tent with Darien. Darien ran over to the elder. Blood was splattered over his body and his legs were broken and backwards.

"I'm…I'm dying, Darien," said the elder as Darien kneeled down. "Make me a fire and feed me some poop…uh…food."

Darien chuckled. This was funny, in some way.

"Go to the town, bring back supplies, and help me up."

"Nohki! You need to tend to him. I know you're family's dead, but…"

"I don't give a crap about him. I don't like him!"

"Avenge the tribe. Put Myra and I into hiding," the elder said, "Here, take these." The elder pulled out a scroll of lesser restoration. "For Bran." He also pulled out three healing potions. "For all three of you." He took off a pendant. "I am so wise, because of this medallion. For Nohki."

Nohki walked over. "A medallion of divination," said the elder.

Nohki, wiping tears from his eyes, took the medallion, and cast the spell. In the back of his mind, he heard "Ask nature a question."

"Where is Bran's family?" Nohki asked.

"Bran's family, once whole, now separated, one near, and one, much further away."

"Bran," Nohki said, turning to him, "You're family has been taken. One is near, and the other is far away."

"Well, will you help me search?"

Nohki started sobbing, as he thought of his dead child.

"Nohki, isn't there a tree you know of?" the elder said.

"Here's the thing…" Nohki started.

"You could put Myra and I in it for a little while you go find Bran's family," the elder said.

"Listen, Darien, real talk," Nohki said.

"What?"

"So I'm fine with putting Myra in my tree, but frankly, I don't like the village elder. He's kind of goofy, and crappy at his job, and I don't like him. You guys are fine though, so I'll put Myra there."

"He's an old man!" Darien exclaimed, "Are you just going to leave him there to die?"

"Death is part of the circle of life."

The elder started making a strange noise, like whistling. A bird flew overhead and landed next to him, thus regurgitating food into his mouth. It was gross, especially for a human.

"Oh gross!" Darien said.

The elder pet the bird. "I feel better, but my legs are still backwards." He started to move. "Damn you tribesmen! I'm gonna move on my…uh."

As the elder moved, a crack resonated from his legs. He started to gasp for air and needed to be put out of his misery.

"We have no room for him in the tree, and he's well beyond saving," Darien said.

"Well, he's definitely not coming with us to get revenge," Bran said.

"I'm gonna put him out of his misery." Darien grabbed his short sword and was about to bring his sword down when the elder died.

"Well, let's take Myra to the tree," Darien said.

"My tree." Nohki sighed. He leaned against it. It had been born when he had been born, and he had a spiritual connection with it. The trunk was wide and large enough to fit a person in it. Myra stepped in.

"Quite cozy," she said.

"I bet."

Darien gave Myra the meat from the elk.

"I love you," Darien said and kissed her. Then they walked back to the campsite, tears in all their eyes.

Darien knelt down next to one of the dead soldiers. He searched it's body and found a scroll. He read it.

Your orders are to clear the village of savages in the woods, by either taking them as slaves, or killing them. This is necessary to build more farms.

Orville of Quintenshire.

Nohki carried the body of his wife and daughter and put them down in the woods. He covered them with leaves and dirt, and let his tears wet them to encourage decomposition. He went back to camp, and the three set off into the forest, out for vengeance.

Thank you for reading that first chapter. For all of you that are reading my 'Jurassic Island' story, I am running out of ideas for it, so I ask that you give my ideas and I might incorporate them into my story. I hope to upload the next chapter for both these stories soon. R&R.