Hello everybody! It's been about three months since I've posted this story on here. I know my uploads have been extremely slow lately; those of you who read my note in my previous stories will know that I'm right now taking my master's classes and at the end of the long two-year journey. That means a whole lot of final assignments and, in my case, field experience that doubles up as my master degree/credentialing finals. Yep, its a whole lot of adult life being crammed into a small amount of time. It's amazing that I can even find the time to write a few sentences here and there. That's pretty much how this chapter was created, a few sentences a day from the last three months!

Anyway, let me repeat for those of you who are new or don't remember that this story is completely based on the roll of a dice. Because I wanted to challenge myself and write in a completely unconventional way; I'm embracing the style in which the table top version of Dungeons and Dragons is played. That means all major choices are going to be based on a dice roll whenever applicable. So while I do have the basic groundwork for how the story is going to play out; I have no idea what will happen in terms of how we will get to the end result of each chapter. It will be a bit more apparent as you read through this new chapter. Needless to say, a character can potentially die due to terrible rolls forcing me to write in details I never would have thought of initially.

That said, I will not have the main character, Markus, die even when the dice rolls dictate his health goes down to zero. He is required to complete the entire story. Until the absolute end of the story, the worst he will be is getting knocked unconscious when he loses all health. Everybody else I introduce is fair game to die; Markus is the only exception to that rule for the sake of this story.

And that's pretty much it for now. I'll leave you alone to read this new chapter, one I promise is longer than the last which mainly served as an introduction on things to come. Hope you all enjoy it!

And no, Markus is not meant to be my attempt at inserting myself into the story. I know his name and my pen name are similar, but that's it. The one thing I hate most about stories are those that are either written in the second person or have the author insert their own selves/writing personas into the story. The only time I feel the writer themselves should insert themselves into a piece of writing is in autobiographies, a story where the character is an established person within a given fandom, and stories not tailored to fan fiction. You can call me unreasonable with that; that's just my personal pet peeve about a writer putting their own writing personas into a fan fiction.

Chapter 2

"This is a quaint place to set up shop," Markus said as he glanced about the place. "It's better than the last place where I ran into you. That building was practically one stiff breeze away from falling!" The dwarf simply shrugged as he placed a leather bag on the showcase in front of him and began to unpack.

(Perception: 15+2/10) Thanks to the multiple lamplights around the room, it was easy for him to have a look around. Not that there was much to see, though. The place was structured as how a shop should be, but there were no goods on display. Rows of wooden shelves lined the left wall with only cheap baubles on them. On the right were a few glass showcases. One had a wooden cross post in it that once held a display set of armor. Instead, they were caked in dust; the red felt padding at the inner base faded with time.

However, the showcase the dwarf was laying his items on top of seemed cleaner than the rest. The red felt was still faded, but it seemed tended to as there were minimal traces of dust. In fact, there were still cards in front of what looked to be a few recent depressions where items once sat. How long they have been gone remained to be seen, though. Still, Markus could take a guess at who disturbed the once abandoned showcase.

As for the dwarf himself, it was clear he had been in his fair share of battles. His arms where thick and, as demonstrated by him lifting a few iron balls out of his pack, muscular. His shoulder-length auburn hair, tied in a simple ponytail, brushed against the metallic silver of his armor as he moved. Though unlike most male dwarves, he chose to go without a beard. Even after knowing him for a while, Markus still found it an odd sight.

Another unusual thing was that the dwarf was rather short even by dwarven standards. At barely over four feet tall, he was only a head taller than the surface of the glass showcase. It was obvious the store was originally not tailored towards dwarven needs. Despite the issue, he unpacked his belongings along the surface with practiced ease. He was aware of the space around him and knew a few tricks to get around his height issue when it arose.

"Still up to your old charlatan tricks with those fake goods, Skor?" he asked. Despite the accusation that could be in the words; his tone was simply humorous. "I guess you've been here for a while now."

Skor chuckled as he began to sort through his belongings. "Long enough to make some good coin off the locals. I wish you were here a couple days, though. I was pretending to be a traveling merchant with some wares I had to offload. Used my charm to make them believe the things I had were amazing items. The 'anti-aging cream' and 'bottle of lust' were one of my best sells!" he stated proudly as he pointed a finger atop the glass. "Just set it as a highlighted item and let their money do the talking. It's amazing how they can be so gullible!"

(Perception: Crit. Fail) Markus smirked as he read the cards. "Anything that has to do with youth or libido are always easy to scam. Was the woman I passed coming in one of your suckers?"

The dwarf raised an eyebrow. "Did she look like one to you? Seriously, how did you not manage to get a good look? Lots of things about her screamed experienced adventurer. It was painfully obvious! Or were you blinded by her beauty? Last I heard, you still haven't had any fun yet," he added with a teasing wink.

The Dragonborn scowled, but the blushing revealed his embarrassment. "Like that's any of your business! And besides, I was trying to get out of the streets at the time. What she looked like was the last thing on my mind!"

"Excuses, excuses. You should've been more attentive. Comes with being a thief for a living, don't it?"

"Anyway," Skor continued as he ignored Markus' glare," she's one of my regulars who happened to be passing through. I guess she caught wind of me being in town. She hasn't given me a reason to not trust her yet, so I hook her up with the good stuff."

"Which good stuff?" Markus asked. He had since walked over to the wooden shelves and was examining the baubles. He then picked up a small spherical glass ball and rolled it in his fingers. "You consider the fake goods and forgeries you make to be top-of-the-line stuff, too."

The dwarf gave him a pointed look before returning his concentration to his belongings. "I respect her enough to showcase my actual wares. It also helps that she sometimes does side jobs that net me rare goods. I suppose you could call it a profitable trade. And you know me," he added as he flashed a big smile. "I'm not that big of a prick to stiff someone I'm on friendly footing with. I'm a charlatan with standards, after all!"

"But enough about me! How've you been doing, Markus? It's been a bit since we last ran into each other."

"Well enough to survive, I guess. I got legally robbed by a High Elf running a restaurant, though," Markus recalled with a frown. "The food he served was hardly worth the two gold coins he charged!"

Skor laughed. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. That guy's known to be a price gouger. Not surprising since he used to be a conman before opening up that place. He might be in a different job, but he's still a thief at heart. Only newcomers would be gullible enough to give him their business."

The Dragonborn let out a low growl. "Okay, that's enough with the subtle insults. How about we talk about what you're doing? You've been messing around with your things for a while now."

"I'm just taking stock of what I have left on me. Oh, and I also have this for you," the dwarf said as he picked up a piece of rolled parchment tied with red string. He then said as he held it out to Markus, "Kinda forgot about it, to be honest. I was having too much fun milking these people of their gold!"

Markus shook his head in amusement as he accepted the parchment. "Only you would be so into the charlatan act. But yeah, who is this from?"

"From one of my contacts. He's the only one I got right now looking into matters other than rare goods. I have a feeling you'll find what's on there to be interesting. You can thank me later for making this happen."

"Mustn't be worth much if you're letting me touch it," Markus teased as he abandoned the bauble. Skor was mostly unaffected by the jab since he returned to viewing his items after passing off the letter. The Dragonborn undid the string and carefully unrolled it.

"No need to be gingerly with it. Not like it's on the verge of falling apart."

(Investigation: Natural 20) Markus ignored the other's jab as he spent the next couple minutes reading the contents. He then said after putting the letter down, "This is old news, Skor. I already know Xantyr's here."

The dwarf laughed, thinking it was a joke. Being continually stared at without signs of humor, however, sobered him up quickly. "Wait, are you serious? How could you know about that High Elf being here before me? I just figured it out today!"

"That was through some nightmarish luck. I caught sight of him in the market a few minutes ago. That's why I ended up in here; it was to keep out of sight from him and his pet Paladin."

"He's actually in the outside world? Odd; he's usually holed up in whatever inn he's staying at. And you said there's someone with him? My contact didn't mention that the last time we connected."

"I guess it's his guard or something. Makes sense why he's out, if that's the case. But if that's true, then why does he even have one?" Markus wondered with a frown. "He's always been too cheap to hire one!"

Skor crossed his arms in thought. "Might've been a courtesy gift from his client. It'd make sense if someone wants to make sure his goods stay secured."

"Yeah, I remember reading something about him finding a potential buyer. It hasn't been confirmed, but there's no other reason why he'd suddenly have someone tagging along. Either that or the buyer wants to make sure Xantyr doesn't pull a fast one. Still," he added as he rubbed the side of his head, "I can't help feeling there's more to this letter."

"What do you mean?"

"The way it's written is kinda bothering me," he explained as he turned the letter so the dwarf could see. "Do you know if this person has an unsteady hand?"

"I'm not sure; we've never personally met. A matter of safety on both our ends. His penmanship has always been pretty clear, though," Skor noted without paying much attention to the letter. "Why're you asking?"

Markus sighed. "You would know if you actually looked at it! His writing's sloppy. It's like he was in a rush or something."

"That's not too unusual. A lot of my contacts have sloppy handwriting." Skor continued after taking a few seconds to take a good look, "Though I do see what you're getting at. This doesn't look anything like how Garrett normally writes. He's always pretty neat."

"That's his name?" The dwarf nodded. "How do you know it's him? It's not signed. Or is keeping letters anonymous also a part of your general safety?"

"No, he makes it a point to sign his name. As to how I figured he was the one who sent it, he's the only one I have right now doing any kind of work for me. But you're right, Markus," Skor admitted with a frown. "There's something wrong. He doesn't normally write unsteadily or send it without his signature. I know for sure it's by his hand, though."

"Do you think Xantyr caught him snooping and had one of his goons catch him?" Markus wondered.

The dwarf had gone back to tinkering with his belongs. However, it seemed more like he was using it as a means to distract himself. He then said after a few seconds, "It's possible. A better idea than him being forced to write this letter, anyway. It doesn't mention anything that's in immediate need of your attention. Not like it would've mattered. The red string it was tied with was code that I had to personally hand his letter to you."

"So if he was caught, your contact was still able to counter whatever alterations are on it. Still," Markus continued with a heavy sigh, "there's a chance it means me being here might not be as unexpected as I first thought."

"And that will make things much harder for you. You sure you want to stick with your original plan? I know you've spent a while tailing him," the dwarf reminded as he finally began to put the items back into his bag. "Hell, you'd be owing me your life with the amount of favors I pulled for you!"

"True, but I haven't heard you complain about it. Don't start griping now about wanting to collect. Besides, isn't it a part of being friends to do favors for each other?" Skor rolled his eyes to which Markus gave an amused chuckle.

"And yes," he continued after regaining his composure, "I'm sticking with my original plan. It's hard enough just to stay on Xantyr's trail; I've had less than a handful of times where we were in the same place! I never confronted him then simply because I wasn't ready. I mean, it's pretty much suicide to go against him without backup and being poorly equipped. Things are different this time around, though."

The dwarf snorted as he crossed his arms. "I'm guessing you're talking about your things you asked me to hold onto for emergencies?"

"Provided you still have them with you."

"I left them at my safe house the next town over. That doesn't take care of your backup problem, though."

For the first time during their talk, Markus hesitated in answering. "Well, I was thinking you could help me out with this."

Skor kept quiet at this. Instead, he kept his arms crossed and stared daggers at Markus. This lasted for a little bit, long enough for the Dragonborn to start feeling like he should not have mentioned it.

It took another few seconds of being unblinkingly stared at before he asked, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Because my silence speaks volumes. What makes you think I'll risk my neck to help you in this fool's endeavor? We may be friends, but I'm not stupid enough to take on Xantyr with only a two-man group," Skor definitively replied. "Last I checked, that's called going on a suicide mission."

"I'm not saying we should take him on!" Markus quickly said. "I just need help taking back what he stole from me. Even I'm not that big of an idiot to get into a fight. I'm a fragile guy compared to him."

"You're just fragile period, Markus. Remember that time you tried to fight a simple city guard and ended up getting knocked upside the head by his lance? The guy didn't even put that much effort into his attack!"

The Dragonborn slapped his forehead in embarrassment. "Of all the jobs you could've been with me on, it had to be the one where things went wrong. I keep telling you that incident was a one-time thing! I didn't even get a chance to be stealthy about it."

"True, but it was also my first time doing field work with you. It left a bad impression," Skor said with an impish grin.

"Okay, that's enough about that! I'm just asking to see whether or not you're gonna help me out."

(Persuasion: 7+2/Natural 20) "And the answer's no," the dwarf quickly said. All the while, he kept his impish grin. "I'd be crazy to stick my neck out for you any longer than I already have."

"You're kidding me!" Markus exclaimed. "You hardly did anything dangerous! The most you did was exchange covert messages with your contact."

The impish grin finally left Skor's face. "You really think that was safe work? Keeping in contact with my contacts is more dangerous than you think." He then asked as he started to clear out the things inside the showcase, "Who's the one who'll potentially be exposed if they were compromised? What do you think can happen now that Garrett might be in enemy hands? I'm not gonna stick around to find out, that's for sure!"

"So you just invited me to this place so we could discuss Xantyr being here before you hightail it away? Some friend you are!" the Dragonborn angrily grumbled.

"Hey, I did more for you than I would've done for anybody else because I consider you a friend. If it were anybody else, I'd be charging an arm and a leg for the amount of things you had me do! Risking my life is not on the list of special benefits," Skor explained as he began to shuffle what he just laid out into his bag.

(Persuasion: 8+2/6+2) "But I'm hardly fighting material!" Markus argued in an attempt to earn some aid from the dwarf. "You know I work best in the shadows; I'm bad with direct fights. You could at least give me something helpful before running away!"

Surprisingly enough, Skor paused in his packing and looked up at the other. He seemed to want to continue arguing against providing more help. He heaved a heavy sigh instead before snaking a hand into his bag. What he pulled out a second later was a small brown pouch, its contents sounding like glass as it lightly moved about.

"Here's something to stop you whining at me," the dwarf said as Markus took the offered pouch. "There are two potions in there. And yes, they are legit," he quickly added upon seeing Markus's dubious glance. "The orange one is a stimulant that makes you feel stronger for a short time. The blue one is more of an adrenaline boost; you'll get some extra energy to keep on going even if you're really hurting. Your body might hate you later, but it's better than lying dead in enemy territory."

"So they're basically strength and endurance potions," the Dragonborn surmised as he peered into the pouch. Sure enough, there were two small bottles of the mentioned colored liquids inside. "How long do they last?"

"A few minutes at best. They're from my home brew stock, so they don't last as long as the market brand. I guarantee you, though, that they're much stronger."

Markus's dubiousness quickly returned. "Home brewed? These are your knock-offs of the original? I don't want to be experimenting with your potions right when I need them. What if they don't work as advertised?" he argued as he gave one of the bottles a tentative shake. "But even if I didn't have a problem with that, how can you be sure yours are better than the market versions?"

"I make those for black market retail. They've been verified by a potions maker who specializes with experimental brewing. I can promise you they work better than what you're used to. It should be all the help you need."

"And that's all you can do? Come on, man; help me out here!" Markus did not care if it sounded like he was begging. He had waited so long to catch up to Xantyr, and he was not about to let this chance go to waste. That did not mean, however, he was crazy enough to confront him with close to nothing as support. If Skor refused to fight by his side, then he was going to try milking as much stuff out of him as possible.

(Persuasion: 4+2/19+2) "Look, you're gonna have to figure out the rest on your own," Skor said as he packed up the last of his belongings. "I already gave you a couple of good freebies from my wares. Even as friends, you should consider yourself lucky to be getting free goods. Don't think you can try milking more stuff out of me. Still, I'm sure you'll get through facing Xantyr alright if you go about it smart.

"Of course, that's if you can find a way to get to him," he added while tightening his bag with a drawstring. He then bent down and got a rope which he tied around the drawstring as a manual double-locking process before throwing it over his shoulder. Afterwards, he made his way around the showcase and stood face to face with Markus for the first time. "From what you said, he has a Paladin with him. Rookies or not, they are pretty formidable people to go up against."

"Which is why I asked you for your help. If that Paladin was hired by whoever Xantyr's planning to meet, I can only imagine how many other people they might have. I can't do this on my own! I don't think even your boot-legged potions will be of much help." Markus let out a frustrated sigh as he begrudgingly put the potions into his hip satchel.

"Call them what you will, but I promise they'll save your life one of these days. You just need to make sure to use them at the right time. Now if you'll excuse me," Skor said in a teasing posh accent as he headed towards the door. The bag over his shoulder stayed firm against his back supposedly because of its weight. "It's time for me to open shop in another town. Hope it all goes well for you here!"

"Come on; you can't just leave me with that!" The dwarf's only response was to open the door and let some of the outside noise in. He cast a glance back and flashed Markus a grin before going into the streets and shutting the door behind him. Markus simply stood there and gave a death glare at empty space. It was a couple seconds before he angrily grumbled, "He actually left. Now how am I supposed to do this?"

And that's this chapter for you in a nutshell. It was pretty interesting to make everything work since I'm constantly busy and working hard to fit in a couple sentences a day. It's crazy, but even those couple sentences are a great way for me to get away from the craziness that has become my life these past two or so years.

Anyway, let me quickly address what I'm doing new here as opposed to the first chapter. It's also a bit of setting the groundwork for the rules I'm setting on myself for making this story. Just thought I'd let you know so it'd be easier to keep up with how I'm writing this story and why I'm doing certain things.

I'm sure you noticed all the bold types such as (Persuasion: 1/1) posted throughout the chapter. In short, they are the description of what the roll is based on and the results of all participating parties or relevant objects. The left number will always be Markus; the right is always the challenger or difficulty of performing an action on an inanimate object. The added numbers are each character's respective modifier points to the proper check.

With people, the challengers will also have a dice roll to try and counter my attempts. With objects, they will always be set at the default of 10. The exception is if I decide to, for example, check an otherwise suspicious spot. Depending on the success or failure of the default 10 check; the difficulty can either be risen or lowered by 5. So say I noticed a wall possibly being host to a fake door. If I failed the initial Perception check of default 10, the difficulty in trying to open it will now be default 15. Conversely, it will be default 5 if I pass the initial check. Hopefully, that should take care of any confusion as to why the inanimate object checks are always set at 10.

Also, I will not bother posting the opposition's result if Markus's roll is either a Natural 20 or a Crit. Fail (a 1). It becomes so obvious that I passed/failed; the opponent's result does not matter. The only exception to that is if we both managed a Natural 20 or a Crit. Fail. The Natural 20 I will roll again and thus have two results posted simultaneously. With the Crit. Fail, it will be a penalty of some kind on both ends with neither side being given a re-roll.

I also went the extra step and created a character sheet for all characters currently introduced. That includes Markus, Skor, Xantyr, and the unnamed Paladin character. Since I've already used so much space on here, I will instead post all of Markus's stats in the next update. Of course, that's provided I even remember to do that if it takes another three months to be posted. Until then, I hope you continue to be patient and enjoy this new chapter!

And as an extra thing; there were two chances I thought of in which Skor could have been recruited at this point. The first was when Skor managed to roll a Natural 20 against me and just flat-out said no. The second was when he first gave Markus the two potions. If he was successfully persuaded three times, Skor would then just give in and join Markus. Otherwise, he will stick to his guns and leave. At least the roll was nice enough in that I could write in a couple of helpful items. But boy, I can see the inevitable encounter with Xantyr being an interesting chapter to write.