Author's note: I apologize for the shortness of chapters as of late. Long chapters just aren't me. The length of the chapters so far is just right for me. Besides, the chapters are longer if you take them two at a time, if you know what I mean.
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Chapter 4: Start!
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AFTER THE COMMERCIAL BREAK
Welcome back to our game show, RPGames! Samantha, Alexandra, and Leo are beginning the RPG, so to speak. We open to Hunter's Forest, to be more specific, the little village of Plum, where Leo is just returning from his most recent excursion …
I walked into a little three-bedroom houset. "Wow, that was a pretty nice hunt. Those animals are no match for the great hunter Leo!"
Sam came in next. "Shut up, Leo. Practicing magic is a bit boring. I wish I could use my abilities for something exciting, like stopping a thief or something."
"I heard that!" Alex dropped from the ceiling. "It's not my fault the mayor keeps such sharp watch of his quarters, but I got a good 100 G from a chest in his house without anyone seeing me."
At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," I told Sam and Alex as I walked over and opened the door.
The knock had come from a soldier. "Excuse me, I have a message from the king of the land. He's holding a picnic banquet in Moose Meadow, north of here. Since you're one of the best hunters in the land, you and your two friends are invited. We soldiers will keep the path clear of monsters for you."
Sam approached and gave the soldier the thumbs-up. "We'll be there."
The soldier started to leave, but then hesitated. "I almost forgot something important. You may get lost on the way, so I'd better give you this." He handed me a map, which I held up in the air with a triumphant pose. All right! Now the team has a world map! They can check it through the status menu.
"A banquet," Alex repeated once the soldier had left. "I've never been invited to one of those in my entire life! Come on, we have to go to it!" I nodded as I opened the door.
Before departing, we spoke to some of the townsfolk. They did most of the talking. They said various things: "The king is holding a picnic banquet north of here, in Moose Meadow. I wish I could go." "You're a hunter, right? Hunting is very popular here. They don't call this Hunter's Forest for nothing, you know." "How's your status? Check on your status by looking at your DS. Use L and R to change the display."
This last bit of information made me hesitate. I opened my DS and looked at it, and to my surprise, it displayed my stats. Ditto for Sam's and Alex's X-powders. They must have been changed when we were transformed in those tubes. I hit R, and saw a map display. R again showed me our key items (so far, just the map). A third press of R took me back to the stats screen.
We spoke to a few more townsfolk. "I like your looks. Howzabout a date sometime? No? Aw, you're no fun." "East of here is Silence Ruins. A lot of mystery covers that area." "I wonder why it's always snowing in Winter Plains, southeast of here, but it's fine everywhere else."
Finally, Sam decided it was time to head for the banquet. We started to head north, but a fallen tree blocked the road. A man in front of the tree told us about an artifact collector who lived in a house with a yellow roof. "He recently found some strange stone with an inscription," he explained.
On a hunch, we decided to visit the collector. We found the house in question and entered it. "Hello," he greeted us. "Have you come to look at the tablet?"
"Tablet?"
"While exploring, I recently found an odd tablet. There's an inscription on it. It says, 'When four rings are united on their pillars, the power to overcome trouble will be revealed.' Whatever the hell that means."
I laughed a little. "Sounds interesting."
"Yeah. Hey, were you invited to that banquet"
Sam nodded. "We were"
"Well, you better be going. It'll start before long. Oh, I wish I was invited."
Alex was about to explain that a tree was blocking the way, but Sam stopped her, and we both left. When we got back to the fallen tree, it was gone, so we proceeded down the open path.
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The adventure has already begun. How will it end, though? We're all out of time for now. Tune in next- Tina, put a cork in it. The chapter's over.