I still can't believe I'm doing this because that first chapter was really just made for the heck of it. But it had a lot of support, so why not.
Enjoy.
xxXxx
"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"
Nate frowned inwardly as he heard the chants for Grog the Goliath to continue drinking more and more beer.
It was a normal sight to him by now, but an unwelcome one nonetheless.
The world where he currently was akin to a DnD campaign so taverns were the closest to houses that he'd had.
Shame it was also the only place he could play DnD again. The only thing that was still part of the old him.
"The right strategy here is obviously to be stealthy. The quest said to just bring the stolen amulet after all and I'm vastly outnumbered." Said Percy De Rolo, a human artificer as he sat across from Nate at a table with a beautiful DnD set.
Percy was the only one willing to consistently play with him. The others, especially Grog, were less fond of the game.
"Roll for stealth." Said Nate calmly before Percy rolled a d20 and got a 1. "You attempt to go through the back window but you hit a table with a vase on the way in and the guards are alerted to your location."
Just as Nate said, the characters in the dd set moved as if they were alive and reenacted the same scene he foretold.
"Agh!" Percy cried in shock. "A one?! Hmm, nevermind. I haven't died yet and it means this is still salvageable. I just need the right plan." He finished before putting a hand on his chin and beginning to hatch a strategy.
It was then a burly looking man entered the scene and picked up Percy's avatar with a scoff.
"Playing with toys, are ya?" Said the man before noticing a toy dragon next to Nate. "And what's this. Aww, little kids and their baby dra-"
Before the man could finish his sentence, the dragon toy managed to deep throat half of the man's body, leaving his legs to flail around in an attempt to break free.
Percy grimaced at the sight of the toy. "Why do we still play with these things again?"
"Because I'm not making a wizard nor do I have the money to get an enchanted set. Take what you can get."
"But flesh eating mimics?"
Nate paused. "They're omnivores."
"Hey!" Percy and Nate turned to the source of the voice to see the man's friends glaring at them as their friends got a step closer to getting eaten.
Nate snapped his fingers and the man was instantly freed from the dragon toy mimic.
The man and his friends didn't look happy, however.
"Not again." Said Percy tiredly as Nate groaned.
As the two got ready to tussle, a table flew at their opponents knocking them out.
"That was surprisingly helpful." Said Percy before turning to the rest of the squad to see that they began ANOTHER brawl. "Should we help them?"
Before Nate could replace, some guy attempted to attack Percy only for him to point his gun at the man's chin freezing him in place.
Before anything else could happen, Grog leaped towards them knocking down the man, Percy and the mimic dd set.
"God damnit." Said Nate before rolling a d20 and getting a 9.
And from the dice a four armed skeleton holding four crossbows appeared before the dice returned to Nate's pouch.
Nate stole one of the crossbows and rolled the d20 again. He got a 2. The crossbow bolt flew into the wall and ricochet from it to barely miss Vax, the half elf and hit the four armed skeleton once again knocking off an arm.
"Fuck, Nate! Didn't we tell you not to drink?!" Yelled Vax who was very very drunk. "Roll a d4!"
Nate begrudgingly did as asked and got a 4. Suddenly, the entire floor was covered in VERY POINTY metal d4's. The screams and howls of pain that followed were deafening.
Though, it all stopped when the minotaur tavern owner arrived.
Nate knew this wasn't ending well and quickly saw himself out with his dignity and the three armed skeleton.
A few moments later, the rest of Vox Machina were promptly kicked out.
"AND NEVER COME BACK!"
SLAM*
The group went silent for a while before Keyleth spoke.
"Does this mean we're officially banned from every tavern in Emon?" Asked Keyleth dejectedly.
"We've got no money and no place to live." Said Vax in frustration.
"I can make us a house-" said Nate before everyone cut him off.
"We're not living inside a house sized flesh eating mimic!!!!" Everyone, except Grog and Nate, yelled in union.
"What we need is a job." Added Vex tiredly. "Anything at this point."
"...I mean, if protecting carts from swindlers and killing goblins for gold isn't getting us anywhere...I don't know, maybe... maybe we can try doing some good this time?" Said Pike, a gnome cleric.
Everyone went silent except for Grog and Nate.
"Booooring!" Exclaimed Grog.
"I'm down." Said Nate calmly with a shrug.
"Do you guys every think that maybe we aren't meant to do this?" Asked Keyleth dejectedly. "I mean, Vex and Vax only care about themselves-"
"Well, fuck you." Replied Vex and Vax in union.
"Grog wants to murder everyone-"
"Pretty much." Commented Grog.
"Percy barely wants to be with us in public while Nate just wants an escape from everything around him." Continued Keyleth. "And Scanlan wants-"
"To bed everyone in the realm." Scanlan finished the sentence. "You can say it Keyleth, I'm not ashamed."
"Honestly, why are we even together." Muttered Keyleth dejectedly, causing everyone to go silent.
Nate asked himself that question as well. It was for two reasons, he thought that maybe other from earth came to this world before him and perhaps he could find something during his travels with them.
The second reason was that he generally had no where else to go.
"Well, while you're all moping, I'll go empty the proverbial basilisk." Said Scanlan before heading out.
Nate sat on the ground silently, not knowing what to do or say in this situation.
It was only when Scanlan returned that things change.
"Guys! THIS is our purpose!" He declared holding a flyer for a quest before going on about justice, glory and whatever, Nate wasn't listening half the time.
Until Scanlan's pants fell down...in front of everyone.
This prompted Nate to throw a d4 in his face.
"Ow! Don't you know how much those d4's hurt?!" Exclaimed Scanlan in pain as the d4 returned back to Nate from inside Scanlan thigh.
Nate didn't respond and instead got ready to throw it again.
"Okay! Okay! I'll put my pants back on!" Scanlan cried as he hurriedly put his pants back on.
Nate still threw the d4 a second time.
xxXxx
At the castle of Tal'dorei.
The flyer Scanlan brought became a ticket for them to enter with no trouble... except for Trinket the bear who was forced to stay outside as well as the three armed skeleton they decided to bring along for some reason.
Inside, the group could hear the king and some other people talking about something probably important.
Keyleth tried to make their presence known, but she failed.
Unfortunately, Grog interrupted them with the loudest burp known to man.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Nate promptly plugged his ears, not wanting to get any secondhand embarrassment.
It wasn't until Scanlan started singing for some reason that he started plugging his ears MORE.
He did however catch something about himself in the song.
"And Nate with his lucky dice, makes creatures that turns evil into shaking mice."
The secondhand embarrassment grew into full on embarrassment, causing Nate to cover his shadow like face as well.
He believed Scanlan was either the bravest person in this world or the most shameless.
Luckily, it seemed that the king and his advisors accepted them quickly.
But that gave Nate the question. Where were they going and how?
xxXxx
On an air ship because of course! There HAS to be a flying ship when a someone's afraid of heights!
"So, where are we going?" Nate asked Keyleth as he curled up in a corner as to not be near the edge with the three armed skeleton as a comfort doll.
"Shale Steps, the village closest to the last attack. Weren't you with us when they said that?" She asked in confusion.
"I was busy." Nate avoided eye contact.
"Really? I thought you were posing with us when you lowered your hoo-you were embarrassed, weren't you?" Asked Keyleth in realization before groaning. "I thought you started being cool with us, you know?"
"I saw Scanlan's genitals yesterday. Hard to think he's cool with...that." said Nate in disgust before the four armed skeleton nodded with the noise of bones cackling. "Not now, bud." Nate said before the skeleton transformed into a card.
It was a monster sheet that contained the monster and its information. Nate promptly put the card in his pocket with the others for later use.
Meanwhile, Keyleth's shoulders dropped dejectedly as she dropped the conversation.
The rest of the ride was silent for the two. They neither talked to each other nor to anyone else.
Eventually, the group finally made it and headed down from the ship much to Nate's relief.
"The shale steps are beyond that hill." Said the blonde lady who was escorting them. Nate never actually picked up her name. "And please don't...fuck this up, as they say." She finished before heading back onto the ship.
"Thanks for the sweet ride!" Said Scanlan cheerfully. "You'll be back to pick us up later, right?"
Whether it was the reply or not, the ship rose into the air and flew away leaving them behind.
"Yeah, she'll be back." Said Scanlan.
Nate ignored him and opened the magic map he had access to, trying to see if there were any enemies nearby.
"You see anything on that map?" Asked Vex curiously.
"One evil lizard that's pretty far away and good people up ahead."
"Evil lizard?" Asked Vex raising a brow as she crossed her arms.
"The map only shows the type of creature, where it is and its alignment. If you were expecting more, i'm not omniscient." Nate rolled his eyes.
"No, this is plenty." Replied Vex with a grim look that felt unfamiliar on her face. "A lizard, huh?"
Her expression prompted Nate to look back on this enemy. A lizard that even the best of adventurers couldn't defeat.
It was either the bar for greatest adventurers was pretty low.
"Or we could be facing something close to a dragon."
xxXxx
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Toodles.