Everyone soon gathered around to sit around the purple fire. "Listen and hear of Korgran, who strode the earth with furry boots and his talking axe." Korgran said as he started to tell his story.
15 Years Earlier
"Back, lizard beast!" Korgran yelled as he held his axe out to a giant lizard, who just looks at him before he tries to strike it, but the lizard jumps back as the axe hits the ground and hisses at him. Korgran tries to lift his axe free while the lizard whips him in the face with its tail. "Your... tail lashes will not... sway Korgran! Korgran... will... vanquish... you this day!" He quickly catches the tail to force it back as the lizard grabs hold of his axe and pulls it out of the ground. Korgran tries to pull it back, but loses his grip and glares at the lizard as it threw the axe away before charging at it and pushes it as the lizard tries to stop him before Korgran started to punch it. "No cold blooded fiend can best Korgran!" He kept giving it punch until he lifts it high in the air, scaring it. "Nor warm blooded!" He throws it down on its back before looking down at it. "Nothing cold or warm!" He jumps in the air to strike it, but the lizard rolls to the right, making Korgran miss and fall to his side. He turns onto his back as the lizard comes on top of him. "I am not bested!" He manages to get his left arm free and forced the lizard's right hand aside. He then held his hand out to grab its tongue and pulls on it, causing the lizard to shriek in pain before he lets go and pushes himself into it, forcing it down before grabbing its tongue again and uses it to tie its front paws tightly. He soon picks up his axe and raises it high in victory. "Easy victory for Korgran!"
"Well done, Korgran!" The axe said as the gem in the centre glows as it spoke. "As sometimes."
Korgran groans out of humiliation. "No, you mean 'As always', axe."
"Uh, yeah. Of course."
Inside a hut, a middle aged man with long white hair and a long white beard was looking at a coin. "1,786 gold coins." He said, looking at it before putting in it on top of a nearby stack. He huffs in surprise. "That's a 6% quarterly growth rate in pillaging.
Pretty soon, the front door opens, and the coins start to shake before they all fall over and the man looked at them. "Father!" Korgran called out before the man glares at him. "Korgran is back!"
"Ugh, son, why do you insist on speaking in third person?" He puts a hand on his forehead out of humiliation. "I know you think it makes you sound more barbaric, but all I hear is a lack of education."
Korgran simply laughs. "After much time, Korgran has proven himself! Korgran is ready to become valuable member of barbarian horde, like older brother Kale." His father wasn't listening as he tried to recount the coins before Korgran places the lizard on the desk. "Behold!"
Korgran's father gasped and looked at the lizard while Korgran stood with pride, and becomes frightened. "Ross? Ross!" He takes a closer look. "Buddy!"
Korgran becomes curious. "Ooh. Why are you calling monster 'Ross'?"
His father starts to take Ross out of the hut. "This isn't a monster! This is Ross!" Ross started to cough from having its tongue used to tie its limbs. "My Division Manager of Plundering in the Western Region!" He briefly glares at Korgran before turning back to Ross. "Oh, so sorry, Ross." He continues to escort it out. "My youngest son just gets carried away sometimes." Ross peeks back into the hut to blow a raspberry at Korgran, frightening him before it leaves.
Korgran raises his axe to look at it. "Why you not tell me?"
"Uh oh, compadre." The axe said before chuckling, amused. "Looks like you vanquished the wrong guy."
Korgran's father soon came back in, hands on hips in disappointment. "Don't tell me you're still talking to your axe!" He said. "Korgran, you know that's all in your head. It doesn't speak."
"Don't listen to him, it's magic! No one else can hear, but you."
Korgran lowered his axe, ashamed. "Sorry, father." He said before lowering his head. "Korgran ashamed."
His father sighs. "Look, son, I know how important it is to you to complete a quest, but this is the fourth time you've attacked an ally." He replied before passing him. "Including your own brother. You can't keep doing that!"
Korgran turns to face him. "But Kale and all of Korgran's friends finished quests, years ago. All good quests are gone! Korgran has nothing left!"
His father starts to sort through the coins to find something. "Okay, look." He grabs a scroll, unrolls it and turned to his son. "There is one quest left. But it won't be easy." Korgran opened his mouth in surprise. "The King of Shintaro has issued a summons." He soon smiled. "So you'd have to travel along to that distant land." Korgran's father rolls it up and faces his son.
"Korgran will not be alone!" He raises his axe high. "He will have his axe!" He chuckles a little before he notices his father glaring at him, unamused. "His normal axe." He lowers it. "Which does not talk."
Within hours, Korgran was scaling a cliff wall, using his axe as a climbing hook before he stopped to wipe some sweat off his forehead and resumed climbing. He soon stepped on a loose rock, which breaks off, and he started to fall, scratching the wall a little, but manages to strike his axe into the cliff. "Up we go!" The axe said as Korgran resumes climbing. "It's you and me forever, buddy." It whispered as he climbed.
Eventually, Korgran reaches the top of the cliff and sees Shintaro in the distance. "This is the part where we come in." Fungus said.
Present
"For we too had answered the King's call and journeyed to Shintaro."
15 Years Earlier
Korgran was facing Vangelis, who sits on his throne, with Fungus, Plundar, Doug and Snithik by Korgran's side, while 5 year old Vania was playing with Chompy close by. "My magic is at your service!" Fungus said, taking off his hat, puts his hand inside it, and gets out a tiny orb, which glows very bright, surprising Vania and Chompy.
"My intelligence and skills in digging shall also be of service." Doug said, raising one hand and holding up a scroll in the other. He then turned to Snithik, who moved his hands to sign. "'So will my tremendous sense of smell and knowledge in sign language.'"
"And Korgran's axe!" Korgran said, raising it high. "Which does not talk."
Plundar soon came up next to him, holding his dice. "And Plundar's cunning!" He said before throwing them down. They briefly spin before stopping to land on a side.
"Good." Vangelis replied. "For this city is built over an ancient dungeon full of untold treasures and loot. Countless adventurers have sought these riches and never been seen again. For the dungeons are also filled with dangerous creatures, traps and artefacts of terrible evil." He grabs a nearby scroll and unrolls it to show them what was on it, surprising them. It had the drawing of a gold skull on it. "But most evil of these is the Skull of Hazza D'ur. Bring it to me so that I may see it destroyed with my own eyes. Only then will Shintaro be truly safe. What say you?" He rolls the scroll up. "Will you accept this quest?"
Fungus puts his hat over his head, and glowing dust comes out and lands on his head. "Yeah!" He replied, coughing a little as he puts it on. "I will!"
"So will Korgran!" Korgran said.
Snithik nods to Doug, who smiles. "Speaking on behalf Snithik and myself, we are in."
Plundar picks up his dice, tosses them in the air and catches them. "You had me at 'loot'." He said.
"Thank you." Vangelis replied. "And may fortune smile upon you and keep you safe."
Later that night, Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug and Snithik face a tunnel entrance with looks of determination. Fungus and Plundar were holding torches while Doug was looking at one of his scrolls before they head down it.
Present
"So it was, we entered the dismal darkness of the Dungeons of Shintaro." Fungus said.
"It wasn't that dismal." Plundar replied.
"'Yes it was!'" Doug said, translating for Snithik, who was signing while glaring at Plundar.
"Hey, I'm not saying it was a stroll in the park."
15 Years Earlier
Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug and Snithik move along the cave. "It wasn't long before we ran into all the usual stuff, you know, boobytraps, poison spikes, blades." They stop at a row of swinging blades before they turn to Korgran, who throws his axe, cutting all the ropes that were hanging them, and they land on the ground. They resume moving while Korgran picks up his axe. "Dead ends."
Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug and Snithik stop in front of a cave wall before they look at each other, until Snithik started to sniff around a little before moving back down the path, and they follow him. "Oh, and spiders, too!"
They down a path before a baby spider lowers down in front of Plundar, surprising him. They look around to see more spiders converging on them before Fungus spun his free hand, conjuring some magic before holding it out at the spiders, which instantly freezes them all solid in blocks of ice. They resume moving along, passing by the frozen spiders while a small spider that managed to avoid being frozen started to follow them. "But for a group with our level of experience, it was a cake walk."
They go down a tunnel while following Snithik, who sniffs out where to go before Korgran stops him, and points down at some pressure pads. Realising they could be traps, they start to hop around them so that they wouldn't step on one until they reach the end and resume moving normally. Unfortunately, the spider that was following them steps on one of the pressure pads, activating the trap. Soon, the ground below them started to rise up.
They all look around before Plundar notices they're about to head for the ceiling. "Look out!" He yelled.
Korgran quickly knelt down to push onto the ceiling as hard as he can to hold it while Doug and Plundar head for a nearby pressure pad before Doug started to dig around it while Plundar got out a lockpick and jams it into the centre to lift it up to show some yellow and purple crystals underneath. He turns to Doug, who grabs a purple crystal while Plundar took a yellow one and insert them in opposite slots. The crystals soon glow before they push it back in its place. Soon, the platform stops moving and started to lower back down. As they look at the path ahead, the spider started to walk ahead of them. "So, that little guy triggered the trap." Doug said.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it. Let's press on."
Several minutes later, they reach a stairwell where the spider was ahead of them before stopping when they see the skeleton on a dragon, but continue on, until they came across a skull. Korgran puts his axe aside as they all look at it. "Jackpot!"
"We found it!" Fungus said.
"Korgran has completed quest!" Korgran said, about to grab the skull.
Snithik taps Doug's shoulder to get him to look at him to sign. 'It's a trap!' Snithik signed.
Doug turned back to see Korgran about to grab the skull. "Korgran, wait!" He yelled.
Unfortunately, it was too late as Korgran grabs onto the skull, which started to glow green, and his arms slowly start to turn black. Korgran lifts it up as he struggles to resist before managing to let go and falls back as his arms turn back to normal. "Korgran!" Fungus said as they were all around him. "What happened?"
"It was a trap."
Korgran whimpers a little. "Doug right." He said. "Skull is evil. Dark power tried to overtake Korgran."
"If we can't touch it, how are we gonna get it out of here?" Plundar asked.
Snithik notices Korgran's axe before signing to him. "What?"
"'Use your axe.'" Doug said, translating it.
"Of course. Axe... that does not talk." He slides the axe underneath the skull to pick it up.
By the time they, along with the spider, returned to the throne room, it was dawn, as Vangelis was on his throne, looking at a scroll before they enter, and he looks at them. Korgran raises his axe to show the skull between the blades. "I see your quest was successful." Vangelis said.
"Oh, indeed it was, sire." Fungus replied.
"With only little complications." Doug said, looking at the spider that had followed them back.
Korgran lowers his axe on the ground for the skull to slide off it. "Korgran requests honour of destroying evil skull." He said, pointing at himself before raising his axe high.
"Yes, about that." Vangelis replied before Korgran could strike. "It occurs to me that great power likes this could be useful. We could use it to protect our fair city."
"Sire, no, the skull is evil." Fungus said, protesting the idea. "It cannot be trusted."
Korgran groans as he thinks of what to say. "Korgran felt its evil." He said.
"I believe any one who touches it may be turned." Doug said.
"Skull must be destroyed!"
"Do you all feel that way?" Vangelis asked. They all nod. Vangelis sighs in disappointment. "I was afraid of that." He turns around.
Vangelis presses the button on the right armrest of his throne. "Afraid of-" Fungus was cut off when the trapdoor underneath all of their feet opens up, sending all five adventurers and the spider down the pit, screaming in the process.
Vangelis looks at the skull as the trapdoor closes. "Now, let's get to know each other better, shall we?" The skull glows green and starts to rise up before turning to him.
"We shall." It said before they both start to laugh.
Present
"And, uh, that's the story of our quest." Plundar said, concluding the story. "That's how we ended up here. And that's why we're called the Lowly."
"For there is no one lower than us." Fungus said.
"For how long we've been here, not even we know." Doug said, pointing to many line markings on the wall behind the lake that mark the days they were in Rock Bottom. "Eventually, I ran out of space."
"Even the worms are above Korgran." Korgran said.
"'Hardly any air or daylight around.'" Doug translates Snithik's signing.
"But how do you know what the king said to the skull, after you fell into the pit?" Dragon asked, skeptical about the last part of their story.
"Oh, I was just guessing." Plundar replied. "I made that part up to give it a little more drama."
"Villainous scoundrel!" Fungus said, referring to Vangelis.
"Evil king!" Korgran said, standing up and holding his axe out wide.
"Traitorous bastard!" Doug said as Snithik also signed it.
"Rotten numbskull!" Plundar said and Adam hisses in anger.
"Dad..." Vania said to herself, and they all look at her. "Uh, but you're right. He is evil. I know that now."
Cole stands up and puts a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner. "I made a promise a long time ago, that I wouldn't give up!" He said. "Ever! And I'm not letting you give up. Our friends are out there somewhere, they need us! And King Vangelis is out there and he needs an ass kicking! And that someone that's gonna do the kicking is us! So from now on, we're not the Lowly. We're the Upply!" The name makes them become curiously confused. "Because that's where we're going! Up!" Maggie, Dragon and Vania smile at him. "What do you say? Who's with me?"
"I'm not sure about the 'Upply' thing." Plundar replied, tossing and catching his dice before throwing them to decide what to do. "But, what the hell. I'm in!" Everyone soon cheered.
(A/N: Korgran explaining how he defeated Ross, and getting a raspberry blown at him, was hilarious. I thought maybe adding Korgran had a brother would help in a future story I finished up last year)