Two chapters in one day! I meant to upload chapter three a while back, but the place I was staying at had terrible WiFi and the docs wouldn't let me save anything.

Disclaimer

I don't own helmed horrors, but I do own the ironic spelling of hellhound as "helhound," since Hel, the Norse goddess of death, is spelled with only one L.

Irene and Krista are original characters.

Chapter 4: Adventure

Aroconus didn't like their odds. Helhounds worked for Hel, the ruthless goddess of the dishonorable dead. Helmed horrors had certain immunities, and there was no way to know which spells they were immune to.

"So does anyone want to go first? Or should I take the first shot?" Dusk cracked her knuckles and tilted her head.

Acheron stepped forward and drew his hand back. Some fire formed at his hand and he hurled his hand forward. The fire shot at the helhound, but it just bounced off its coat and started a fire on the floor. The helhound stared at Acheron, something resembling mock in its eyes.

"What? How?" Acheron demanded.

"Helhounds are immune to fire, genius!" Aroconus shouted.

Acheron threw his hands into the air, "Well how was I supposed to know that?"

The helhound growled at them and crouched low, preparing to strike.

"So it's immune to fire," Miri said. "But is it immune to ice?"

Frost spread from her feet in the floor, freezing over everything it came in contact with. It reached the helhound's feet and froze its feet to the ground. The helhound whimpered slightly.

"Jackolopieous, you take care of the helmed horror," Dusk ordered.

Jackolopieous nodded and drew his sword. The sword was a long, thin black blade with a single dark red gem, a garnet, set in its pommel. The name was carved at the bottom of the blade where it met the handle: Scather. It was a Sword of Answering, one of the only nine in existence.

"Alright big guy," Jackolopieous said softly. "It's time for you to die." He raised his sword and pointed it at the helmed horror. He charged at the monster.

Aroconus turned his attention back to the helhound. It had freed one of its paws from Miri's ice and was waving it threateningly at them, but with its other three paws still trapped in the ice, it couldn't go far.

Aroconus raised his beech wand. Blue energy formed at the tip and shot out as three darts made of that magic energy. It pierced the helhound in the side and the beast howled in pain.

Dusk jumped into the air. She jumped high and did a few spins as she flew towards the creature. As she got closer, she readied her poisoned blades. When she was close enough, she stuck once. Twice. Then she had to draw back, but she had cut the helhound. The skin around the wounds was already turning green.

Acheron, while he couldn't use his fire magic, had grabbed an empty glass bottle. He marched right up to the helhound and smashed the bottle against its head. He yelled, "TAKE THAT, SUCKER!"

Miri refroze its other paw to the floor. Dusk spoke, "I'm going for the kill!" She jumped again, and this time, she drove her knife into the chest of the helhound. The helhound screeched before it exploded into black dust.

"So," Acheron said, fanning some black dust away from himself. "How's Jack doing with the helmed horror?"

There was the clanging of armor pieces as they clashed together and fell to the floor. Jackolopieous sheathed Scather, "That answer your question?" He walked over to them, then added, "Oh, and don't call me Jack."

"But it's so much easier than Jack-a-low-pies," Acheron said, completely messing up the pronunciation. Aroconus couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or if he genuinely didn't know how to pronounce the name. Probably both.

"It's Jack-uh-low-pea-uss," Jackolopieous corrected.

Dusk rolled her eyes, "His parents really hated him."

Jackolopieous frowned at her, "It means 'skilled killer' in the drow language."

Dusk shrugged. "If you say so."

They looked around and Aroconus noticed that the entire tavern had cleared out. The bartender appeared to be hiding under the bar. Dusk rolled her eyes again, "What a coward." she muttered.

"We should go somewhere else to talk about this quest we've gotten ourselves into," Jackolopieous said. "Come on, let's get out of Daggerford."

Dusk and Jackolopieous led them out of Daggerford. Aroconus saw that the town was surprisingly small. It took only five minutes to get out of Daggerford.

"So," Dusk said. "Explain."

"Well, we're on a quest to find and close the NIne Gates of Helheim."

There was a brief moment of silence, then Jackolopieous coughed into his fist. Dusk said, "Well, good luck finding them, closing them, and not dying on the way." She turned around.

"We understand you have something called the Orb of Savras," Aroconus said, staring at her back.

Dusk slowly turned back towards him, "The Orb of Savras?" She repeated. "Oh, you mean this little baby?" she pulled a crystal orb out of her pouch.

"Well? Is that it, Aro?" Miri said in a hushed tone.

"Yes," Aroconus said. When he squinted, he could make out tiny specks of color that resembled eyes. "That's the orb we're looking for."

"What do you want with it?" Jackolopieous asked.

"That's how we're going to find the Gates," Aroconus replied.

Dusk tilted her head, "And what makes you think you know how to work this? I haven't figured out how to work it yet."

"I'm pretty sure I can figure it out," Aroconus said.

Dusk laughed, "If I couldn't do it, which one of us can? Jackolopieous and I have the most experience here, and I have the most magic experience."

"That may be true, but you're not a wizard. You're just an arcane trickster. You can't fully understand the secrets of magic," Aroconus said. "But I am a wizard."

"The smartest in our class," Miri added. "So just give him the orb."

Dusk groaned and rolled her eyes before tossing the Orb of Savras towards Aroconus. Aroconus fumbled with it a bit before gaining a firm grip. He glared at Dusk, "You could have broken it!"

Dusk shrugged. "Well it's not my fault you're a bad catch."

Acheron glared at Dusk, but Dusk ignored him. He muttered, "Why do we even need them anyway?"

"If we hadn't been there," Jackolopieous said. "Those monsters would have killed you."

Aroconus sighed, knowing that the shady assassin was right. Trust who you must, the prophecy had said. He began to wonder if it was a good idea to trust Dusk and Jackolopieous. If their survival depended on those two criminals, Aroconus was sure the Norns hated him.

They had traveled farther away from Daggerford and set up a small camp near a stream and forest. Aroconus was in his tent, working on the orb. Dusk was also in her tent doing who knew what and Jackolopieous had gone out to find some food. Acheron sat at the campfire, playing with the small flames.

"I bet those two are going to stab us in the back," Miri spoke behind him. Acheron hadn't been expecting her; he jumped slightly and accidently set his sleeve on fire.

"Dammit," Acheron muttered as he smothered the fire.

Miri pressed her hand to her mouth, quivering slightly. At first Acheron thought she was crying, then he realized she was suppressing laughter. He scowled, "I hate to break it to you, but I'm fireproof."

"Are your clothes fireproof?" Miri quipped, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope. Want me to set those on fire?" Acheron inquired sarcastically.

Miri's face reddened and she wouldn't meet his eyes. "No, thanks."

Acheron opened his mouth to try and say something, but a dark shape appeared behind Miri.

"Watch out!" Acheron exclaimed, picking up the fire from the campfire. The light washed over the figure and Acheron saw that it was Jackolopieous. The young fire wizard felt his face heat up with embarrassment.

"It's just me," Jackolopieous said. "Would you mind putting the campfire down so I can cook dinner?"

Acheron put the fire back down. He studied Jackolopieous, looking for the food. He noticed another figure behind him, larger, and not really human. In fact, it was a cow.

"Cool, beef," Acheron said. "I didn't even know you could get those in the woods."

"You can," Jackolopieous replied. "But she's not food. This is Smirk. She's my cow."

Miri snorted. "You have a cow?"

"Yes," Jackolopieous answered.

"Named Smirk?" Acheron added.

"Yes," Jackolopieous said.

"So what did you actually get for dinner?" Acheron asked.

"I caught a deer," Jackolopieous said. "I also found some non-poisonous berries."

"Great," Dusk poked her head out of her tent.

Jackolopieous started working on the deer. Half an hour later they were all roasting deer meat. Aroconus was still in his tent, so Acheron roasted some for him.

"I'm telling you, I've almost figured it out!" Aroconus exclaimed as Acheron handed him his plate.

"Just keep working on it," Acheron said.

Aroconus nodded and disappeared into his tent.

Dinner was mostly quiet, except for the occasional mooing from Smirk. Then Dusk spoke, "Seriously? You brought the cow?"

"Dusk, I don't see why you can't get along with my cow," Jackolopieous said, crossing his arms.

"Maybe because it's a cow," Dusk shot back, narrowing her sapphire eyes. "It has no stealth whatsoever. IT'S FAT."

Jackolopieous rolled his eyes, "See, Dusk doesn't appreciate Smirk."

"Have you SMELLED the cowpies that thing leaves?" Dusk asked.

"I've read they smell horrible!" Aroconus called from inside his tent.

"Exactly! I don't see why we can't just eat it," Dusk said.

"I'm still trying to confirm it, but I think Smirk has some magical abilities," Jackolopieous continued.

"Oh, not this again!" Dusk growled as she covered her ears.

Acheron looked back at Smirk. She was a large black cow with white spots. Currently she was chewing some grass, then she threw her head back and let out a very majestic moo. "You really think that has magic?"

"The weirdest things have magic these days," Jackolopieous said in all seriousness.

Acheron shrugged, "Fair enough."

After they finished their dinner, Jackolopieous went to hang out with his cow. Dusk disappeared into her tent. Miri decided to stay outside, and when Acheron asked her if she was going to go to her tent, she replied with a smirk, "Hate to break it to you, but I'm cold proof."

Apparently you're not emotionally cold proof, Acheron thought scornfully. "Yeah, yeah," was all he said aloud before he went to his tent.

Her axe flew through the air and landed in the giant's skull with a loud THWACK! It sent a spray of blood through the air, staining the dirt. The giant fell, his head hitting a sharp rock, coaxing even more blood out of his head. The crowd oohed and cringed at the gruesome sight as the dwarf woman walked towards the corpse.

Irene Bellona planted one foot on the giant's damaged skull and pulled her axe free. The blade was caked with half dried blood. Nevertheless, the dwarf woman smiled broadly as she turned to the crowd, "Another invading giant: dead!" she declared, her voice tinted with a Dwarvish accent: swallowed sounds, hard consonants, rolled R's.

The crowd cheered as Irene wiped her axe on her bearskin cloak. She was wearing brown leather armor that showed off her arms, ripped with muscles from working in the forges. She ran a hand through her dirty blonde hair, cut short and choppy except for one braided lock that was longer than the rest of her hair.

Irene put her handaxe back at her belt and walked towards her sister, who was deeper in the crowd.

Krista Bellona had the same dark brown eyes and dirty blonde hair as her older sister, but she wore her hair long. She was wearing brass dragon scale mail armor and was wielding a crossbow, which wasn't her normal weapon. Her jeweler's glasses had been hurriedly pushed onto the top of her head.

"Good shot, sister," Irene told her.

"Thanks," Krista said. "Good thing we defeated him."

"Bah, he was one major pushover," Irene complained as the two sisters walked back to their guild hall.

They were a part of Diamond Dragon, the most successful and efficient (and expensive) artisan guild in all the Nine Worlds. They could literally make anything. It took a lot to be a member. Irene and Krista had been members for almost their entire lives, Krista as a jeweler and gemcutter and Irene as a metalsmith.

They had made many creations, but their greatest creation was a magical sword called Dragon Slayer. They had made it for a prince, but they had deemed the selfish and vain prince unworthy of their great creation. So they had kept it.

No one knew how they escaped punishment. Some said they killed the prince and his guards, which was not true, since that prince was still up in his palace, probably moping around. Others said that the prince didn't put them to death was because they slayed invading giants.

But the real story was kept secret. The real reason was that the goddess Freya had personally told them to keep the sword. She had turned one of the guards who advanced against the dwarf sisters into a cat.

The two walked back to their stations in the guild hall. Krista sat at her desk and pulled her glasses on. She scowled. "Damn giant. His stomps made me crack the gem."

"Eh, makes his death all the sweeter," Irene went over to her personal forge and easily picked up her hammer. A few minutes later, she had finished the sword she had been working on.

"Perfect," she declared as she shoved the blade into her large bucket of water to cool it off.

"That's another weapon finished," Krista said as she moved a tiny gem into place. "Perfect." She said as she took off her jeweler's glasses.

"I think that's all for today," Irene said.

Krista nodded. "Let's get out of here."

They put their work away and checked out of the guild before heading down the street towards a large apartment building. They walked in silence into the building and up the stairs to the ninth floor, where their apartment was located.

The room was not a very large one. It had a small kitchen with chairs lining the counter. There was also a living room and a small hallway leading to bedrooms and the bathroom. It was the perfect size for two dwarves to live in.

In the living room was a glass display case that showed off the greatest creation Irene and Krista had ever made: Dragon Slayer. It was a longsword, made of steel and covered with gold from molted gold dragon scales. The handle was set with tiny rubies and garnets that held magic of their own. A dragon head was carved into either side of the hilt, it's mouth open towards the blade.

It was a blade that could kill dragons.

The two sisters had kept it for years. When they first made the sword, Freya had predicted that they would pass the blade onto a half elf who was worthy enough of the sword. Now, thirty years later, they hadn't met a single half elf, let alone a worthy one.

Krista yawned, "I'm going to go to bed early today."

"You do that," Irene said. "I'll stay up a bit longer."

Krista disappeared into her room while Irene sat at the counter. She filled a large mug with mead, her favorite type of alcohol. She would drink any type of mead, but her favorite was pyment, mead with grape juice in it.

She sipped her pyment mead, glancing out the window. Crocus, the big city in which she lived and worked in, was peaceful. Irene loved it, but adventure rarely happened. The giant that had attacked had been young and not much of a challenge, and giants rarely went into the borders of Midgard. She wished something would happen. Anything to get them on an adventure.

With these thoughts, she finished her mead and somehow fell asleep on the couch.