CHAPTER IV:
Alright, brave Adventurers, why don't you introduce your recruits?
"Really, no one is going start," stated Will. He began to fiddle with the chain attached to the thick book to his belt. "You know my brother Brayton. Jonathan lifted his hand from the spot at the last wooden table the group congregated around.
There was a collective nod.
"What about you," asked Lucas. His crossbow lay atop the table, no bolts loaded.
The Gnome reached forward, grabbing the last roll from the wood plate. "Me? Well, the name is Sharkey Finn, but the friends, well, they call me Sharkey Finn," answered Argyle with a smile. He pulled a dried mushroom from his pack and began cutting it into slivers. He motioned it to the others, all of who declined. The Gnome shrugged, layered some pieces atop the bread, and took a bite. "Me and Reed here. We learned we have a common ground. He wants to learn about these so-called 'fruit.'" Mike opens his mouth to agree cautiously, and Erica beats him.
One of the hooded figures lowers their hood revealing their half-elf features. "That's all well and good for you, but me and Vix here, we're in it for the money. You know the glory, gotta build the brand in some way."
Eleven snickered, and she nodded in agreement. "What she said." Eleven could only smile.
"Fair enough, fair enough," agreed Lucas with a smile. "Jay and I are here for the 'Fruit' too, don't get me wrong, the mystery is intriguing…."
"But, 50 gold pieces each for a piece of fruit, who's passing that up," finishes Robin, in her best attempt at Max. She simply shifts the leg that rests at the edge of the large table with the other.
Steve ran a hand through his hair. His attention on the ceiling, placing his thumbs on the bust of his leather vest. "Treasure is always good, and glory, glory is nice too. Yeah, gotta love a good mystery, but can't go wrong with treasure and glory. Yep, treasure and glory."
The dwarf cleared his throat. "What, Larry, my handsome Barbarian friend here," Steve grinned wide, oddly polished teeth for a Barbarian glint. Dustin continued, "is trying to say is gold, is good, but a mystery… a mystery is," his enthusiasm rising only to be cut off by the main door swinging open.
A tall, stick-thin man steps into the Inn. Thin glasses rest atop a bulbous nose. Behind him follows a heavier-set and younger man. There is no emotion across this man's face. The thin man looks at our Adventurers with a snide face of disgust.
Seriously? Eddie…, I'm not saying that not like that anyway.
She waltzes in from behind the two men. The Lady Hucrele. Her neck is long and slim. She stands tall, her piercing eyes, deep brown, and demure lips. Her sun-kissed shoulders and exposed clavicle. An expensive shawl wraps around her back.
She is the head of the merchant house Hucrele, a vital merchant family in the village of Oakhurst. The merchant family that owns the general store, Will, Jonathan, and Mike, watched Argyle strut out earlier in the evening.
The heavy-set man maintains a close distance from Lady Hucrele.
"You are the Adventurers I've heard about around the square," she asks, her voice sultry with a slight rasp.
Roll me a performance check, Steve. Argyle, an intelligence check.
Seven, fifteen.
Nice, Argyle. Steve, give it your best shot. At least you didn't get a one, dingus. Explain what you try to do.
The Gnome rises from his stool, bread still in hand. He stands atop the chair's seat and waves toward the sullen-thin man. "That's him! That's the guy who sold me the killer shrooms!" the man does not look happy to see Argyle again, and he sighs. A few of the group look in the direction of Argyle's antics.
Then Steve attempts to get up.
The Barbarian lunges forward from his seat, just missing the slightly risen floorboard, a smile on his face, hair almost perfect. More than what he would prefer of hairs out of place. Steve begins to speak, "that's us. We are those Adventurers you inquire about." There is a bit of confusion on his face at his sudden word choice. He takes a breath, finishing his thoughts better than he had started. "How may we be of assistance?"
I told you, just be happy you didn't roll a one.
The Lady Hucrele looks to Steve, eyebrow raised, unimpressed with his attempt of charm, smile, and all. "Yes… of course… how cute." She moves her attention to the group at the large feasting table.
An Elf is suddenly flung to her feet. Standing a few inches taller than the human woman. With shock on her face, she quickly looks back at her companion. The dwarf simply smiles at her two thumbs up, mouthing, "you got this."
Dustin! What the hell!
Come on, Nancy, you got this!
Roll me a performance or a charisma check. Let's see what Lady Hucrele thinks of this.
Twenty-one
Her perfectly manicured brow lifts again as she eyes the Elf. There is a look of amused intrigue.
She offers a hand adorned with gold rings and a wrist covered with thin and thick gold bracelets and bangles. "Kerowyn Hucrele, you are the Adventurers I've heard so much about?"
The Elf takes hold of the presented hand. The two make eye contact. "Cirilla Salinigre," speaks Nancy, her voice breathless. "Yes, yes, we are. What can we do for you?"
"I've come, to you, with a proposition." Lady Hucrele's gaze shifts from the Elf to the rest of the group, her gaze lingering on everyone. "You will be compensated well." Her eye back to Nancy.
"How much," blurts Erica.
Unfazed, Lady Hucrele addresses the group through Nancy. "A previous party of Adventurers, a local group, ventured off in the direction of The Stronghold. Two members of this party are of great consequence to me. Tangent and Sharwyn."
Before the Ranger can ask, Lady Hucrele answers the unasked question. "It has been a month."
She snaps her fingers in the direction of the thin man. "Yes, yes, of course," his body stiffens, and he begins to read from a piece of parchment. "Your party will be given salvage rights and compensated with no more than two hundred and fifty gold per signet ring. If you can find the individuals and they are, in fact, of sound mind, your payment will be double. Making each able body worth five-hundred gold each." He folds the paperback placing it inside a leather file.
A chatter begins amongst the group, and the Elf seems concerned. "Wait a minute, don't start discussing anything without me."
"You seem preoccupied," smirks the Barbarian.
"Right…" Nancy removes the Lady's hand from her grip. "May I," she motions to the group.
"Of course, my dear, by all means, converse amongst yourselves." Lady Hucrele gives the Elf a soft smile.
The group huddle around the large table. "It's obvious, isn't it? We take the job, a rescue she's asking for alive, that a thousand gold, divided between us," Erica pauses to do the math. "That's ninety gold and nine silver for each. It's a no-brainer."
"She has a point, and it's the right thing to do, or at least try anyway," agrees Will.
The male fighter looks to his brother and this new group he is still not convinced of, "forty-five gold each is nothing to ignore either," he agrees. "Not that finding them dead is the better option," finishes Jonathan.
The Ranger rises from his seat, takes Lady Hucrele's hand, and shakes it.
"We'll take the job, now we can't make any promises on what we'll find, but we will get you answers," says Lucas.
"Wonderful, wonderful. I hope you all make it back alive," Lady Hucrele smiles and turns to the entrance.
The heavy-set man opens the main door. The thin one exits the building, happy to be rid of our Adventurers. She pauses halfway through the door. Dark red nails glint in the afternoon sunlight. "I hope you'll be smart and choose to bring both back alive. Considering they are my son and daughter." She disappears.
The heavy-set man nods, then exits as well.
The sound of clanging pots can be heard towards the back of the Inn's kitchen.
Alright, pee break.
What? Awe, come on, Robin!
-.-.-.-
It takes a second to break from the hold of the role-play. There are hands holding dice at the ready and set after set of intense stares, the most intense Nancy's, on Robin. Many had moved to the floor.
"I—need—a—break," Robin eyes Dustin and dares him to protest again.
"That's what I thought. I'll be right back." She is out of the armchair in the direction of the dark narrow hallway. "I suggest you use this time and decide what your next move is…." She disappears into the hall shadows.
Mike jumped to his feet. He looked at Eleven, then gradually at everyone else around the room. "I'm going to grab a drink anyone else?"
"I'll help," offered Dustin.
"Me too," answered Lucas and Eleven. They followed the teens into the kitchen.
"I'm not crazy, right? You saw it," asked Steve from his seat on the couch.
"Saw what," asked Will, focusing exclusively on his character sheet. How would he keep track of the area of all his spells? "I thought they were, you know, role-playing the scene pretty good."
"I don't know, my friends. The little Byers has a point. It was in the game. All-be-it is compelling to watch, considering the tension between the two. Still, there is a thrill of two ex-boyfriends having to watch the scenario play out," resumed Argyle from his designated location on the floor.
Steve ran a hand through his hair. It falls back into its perfect place. "Ex-Boyfriend? I thought you two were going strong and all that," stated Steve, staring into space.
Jonathan picked at his sheets of paper. "It's complicated."
"Isn't it always when it comes to Nancy Wheeler?" This caused both Steve and Jonathan to chuckle to themselves.
Erica looked on in guffawed awe. "They know we can hear them, right? They know you're still… like right here," Erica asked, bewildered. No doubt assessing if liking boys would even be worth it in the future if this is what she had to look forward to.
Nancy laughed. "You would think, wouldn't you?" She watched Steve and Jonathan talk while Will attempted interest, and Argyle was, well, Argyle. A trait Nancy realized to be endearing and refreshing when meshing with Jonathan's quiet if a bit judgy, attitude toward life. "It's just a game, nothing for them to worry about, right?"
Erica squinted in thought but never answered. Even she knew something was going on between the teen girls.
Nancy continued to watch 'the boys' from across the map that lay atop her living room floor rug. Her view was unexpectedly blocked by a can of Coke. Her brother and Eleven passed out drinks to everyone. While Lucas and Dustin set new bowls of chips and popcorn down on the coffee table. They were crazy, Jonathan and Steve. It was only for the game, right, just the game?
Suddenly a snapping noise brought her back to the world, completely unaware she had zoned out. "Earth, to Nancy," it was Robin. "Do you have any scissors around here?"
"Scissors? Yeah, Mike, can you," Nancy answered, startled, her voice cracking.
Mike nodded, jumping to his feet again. He took three long steps over to a small desk and retrieved a pair of small scissors, handing them over to Robin.
Robin smiled in thanks. "Nice," she bent back down in the direction of Will. "So, it says you have, what? A fifteen-foot range, cone of distance or something, and we are working from a grid," the room is silent, all the boys in awe as Robin explains basic math using Dungeons and Dragons. Robin took a blank notecard. She cut it in half. She took one piece drawing a triangle on it, only to cut it out and hand the card over to Will. "This should help see," Robin takes two discarded pencils and lines them with the angled edges showing the burst. "See, simple."
Will, with the biggest smile on his face, not only did geometry seem simple now, but Robin's suggestion helped speed along the game by who-knows-how long. He motioned to Lucas, Dustin, and Mike.
Dustin held the cutout angle. It was perfect, give or take a millimeter. This was not a math test. He handed it back to Will. "You can just do all that math in your head?"
Robin shrugged." I'm good at Math, Science, History … everything but Language Arts, really. Which I think is ironic, considering I can speak four languages now. I'm including Russian after everything that happened last summer. I don't care if I still need to read up on specific slang." She patted Will on the back, continuing to ramble as she made her way to her seat.
Nancy looked on, unaware that the intense stare was back, as she watched Robin in a new light of awed interest.
"All I'm saying is Nancy never looked at me like that," Steve discreetly motioned to the teenage girls "when I talked about anything she found interesting," finished Steve opening his can and grabbing some popcorn.
Jonathan did the same, sitting back against the coffee table. "Same."
Robin slapped her thighs. "Alright, my role-playing Adventurers, I have one question, are we planning to rest, or are we ready to start venturing toward The Stronghold at Xak Tsaroth?"
-.-.-.-
Our Adventurers walk amongst themselves, far enough out of the village that their large group's inconvenience of taking over the road does not cause trouble with the locals. The small talk has waned, but the quiet is nice. There is a soft breeze as the noonday sun begins to shift closer to dusk.
"Was it really a good idea to leave now," cautions Will. He waves his hand in a quick motion in an attempt to detect if there is any evil around them, watching them.
"Anything," asks Jonathan.
The sorcerer pauses, losing his place in the group. His attention focuses on the invisible magic aura he just cast. Will notices nothing of any significance. "No, I'm just being overly cautious, I know."
The dwarf nods, appreciating the caution of his friend. "If the rumors of this 'fruit' are anything to go on. Making it to The Stronghold at dawn might play in our favor. After all, it is said the properties change depending on the time of day, perhaps even the time of year that someone comes in contact with the fruit."
Lucas, Erica, It's your mom. You guys need to go home.
-.-.-.-
The immersion broken, the group looks toward a clock on the wall, its clicks moving the time to eleven-thirty at night.
"Shit. We gotta go, Erica."
"Really, man, it's not even midnight," groans Dustin.
Lucas eyes his sister in an attempt to place blame. "Don't you go blaming this on me? It is not my fault I'm eleven years old. You ever think this was you? Maybe Mom decided you've had enough." The two siblings are at the front door.
"We'll start after lunch tomorrow. How does that sound," suggests Nancy.
Lucas and Erica nod before turning their attention back to their house, which sits only a home away from the Wheelers. Their arguing starts once again.
...
Will, Jonathan, and Argyle rise from their positions on the floor. Their backs pop. Time really has passed by without anyone noticing. "Lunch it is. Come on, El, time to go."
Eleven nodded. She gave Mike a quick hug. "Yes, tomorrow… this was fun."
The phone began to ring in the kitchen.
"That's probably mom," interjects Will. "We should get going before she drives over here thinking the Government or someone kidnapped us."
"Right, right, my dude, right, right!" Argyle grabbed his keys that lay atop the kitchen table. He opened the back door to the driveway.
Nancy looked in the direction of Jonathan. "I'll walk you out." She holds a hand out to stop Robin and Steve. "Wait… You should just stay the night. It's Friday. It is not like you have anywhere to go tomorrow." Nancy paused, "Oh shit, you two probably have to work or something." She looks in the direction of the now-shut back door. "I'll be right back." She rushes outside to Jonathan and the others.
Mike is holding a trash bag and begins cramming pizza boxes inside. "You, too, man, just stay the night." He looks a Dustin, who hands him an empty bag of chips.
"Already on it!" Dustin grabs the phone right as it begins to ring again. "Hi, Ms. Byers. Yeah, they are just about to leave. Yeah, you have a good night too." Dustin hangs up the phone, lifting it again to dial his mom.
"What do you think, Rob? Stay the night," asks Steve, "It's not like we have to work, and we are just coming back here tomorrow."
Robin shrugs. "I'll need to use the phone after Dustin. The last thing I need is my mom popping up here. Trust me, that's the last thing any of us need right now, but yeah, I could stay." She looks at Mike. "If that's cool with you, of course."
Mike just nods as all teenage boys his age do. "Sure, it's been a lot of fun. You're a really good DM, Robin."
Robin smiles, and with Steven, she helps Mike and Dustin, who is on the phone, clean up the kitchen. Nancy enters through the backdoor to help the others as well.