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Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Ch. 2, Page 3
Robilar reached around his neck and lifted the whistle out from under his cloak. Captain Drake was a stickler for protocols such as using the signal whistles. The green recruit was still staring off into the woods and babbling. Robilar tried not to be too annoyed. After all, this boy would probably not live through the night.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Ch. 2, page 2
Robilar knew the boy, though his name escaped him at the moment. One of several of the newer bandits who claimed to have come from the Wild Coast. Robilar held a derisive sneer in check at the very thought of it. If these boys were from the Coast, it was from the safety of Safeton. Had they been from further south, ever seen the thunder lizards that roamed there...well, they would not have looked so green, he was sure of that.
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
Chapter Two
Tenser did return to Castle Greyhawk. He went with Yrag and without Yrag. He made new friends, fellow adventurers all, who sometimes accompanied him.
He did ask Ehlissa to return with him. Indeed, he asked her twice. The first time she coolly said she had more important things to do. The second time, three weeks later, she icily gave him a lecture on how he should find a more reliable method of making money off of magic, as she was doing, and it was time for him to think of his long range plans for a career if he ever planned to settle down someday. Tenser told her he had no desire to settle down, but this only seemed to bother her more instead of less. So he gave up asking, though he told himself he would ask again in a few weeks.
But six months passed. Six months since Tenser had his first taste of Castle Greyhawk. He had seen quite a lot of the first dungeon level and some of a second and third level to the dungeons already. There were monstrous denizens aplenty and many hard-won battles, but the treasure to be looted grew larger and more valuable with each haul. Word of so much treasure spread quickly, so that there was soon competition for it.
There was a friendly rivalry between the competing adventuring companies, but it was still always a sad day when an expedition had been planned, only to find a new section of the dungeons cleared out by rivals the day before. It got so bad for a while that Tenser stopped returning to the City of Greyhawk at all for a week or more at a time, for fear he would miss something good.
But it was not just rival adventurers that were the problem. Word of the castle's spoils had drawn bandits and brigands to the region, thick as flies on a dead rat. The scoundrels had always been a nuisance, but they were better organized now, with stronger leaders, so much so that sometimes it was safer to stay in the castle than venture out of it.
Many of the brigands, it turned out, were using a small fort in the area as their base of operations...
He did ask Ehlissa to return with him. Indeed, he asked her twice. The first time she coolly said she had more important things to do. The second time, three weeks later, she icily gave him a lecture on how he should find a more reliable method of making money off of magic, as she was doing, and it was time for him to think of his long range plans for a career if he ever planned to settle down someday. Tenser told her he had no desire to settle down, but this only seemed to bother her more instead of less. So he gave up asking, though he told himself he would ask again in a few weeks.
But six months passed. Six months since Tenser had his first taste of Castle Greyhawk. He had seen quite a lot of the first dungeon level and some of a second and third level to the dungeons already. There were monstrous denizens aplenty and many hard-won battles, but the treasure to be looted grew larger and more valuable with each haul. Word of so much treasure spread quickly, so that there was soon competition for it.
There was a friendly rivalry between the competing adventuring companies, but it was still always a sad day when an expedition had been planned, only to find a new section of the dungeons cleared out by rivals the day before. It got so bad for a while that Tenser stopped returning to the City of Greyhawk at all for a week or more at a time, for fear he would miss something good.
But it was not just rival adventurers that were the problem. Word of the castle's spoils had drawn bandits and brigands to the region, thick as flies on a dead rat. The scoundrels had always been a nuisance, but they were better organized now, with stronger leaders, so much so that sometimes it was safer to stay in the castle than venture out of it.
Many of the brigands, it turned out, were using a small fort in the area as their base of operations...
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Sunday, May 26, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Page 34
Tenser pondered the question. "And for what?"
He had walked all day and his feet hurt. He was almost killed by giant centipedes and an ogre. He had murdered five sleeping kobolds. He hurt his back hauling a treasure chest up a flight of stairs. He looked again at his hands. His blood-stained hands.
And he realized, despite all those negatives, that he had never felt so alive. So adventurous. So free. And, if he could, he would do it all again tomorrow.
He had walked all day and his feet hurt. He was almost killed by giant centipedes and an ogre. He had murdered five sleeping kobolds. He hurt his back hauling a treasure chest up a flight of stairs. He looked again at his hands. His blood-stained hands.
And he realized, despite all those negatives, that he had never felt so alive. So adventurous. So free. And, if he could, he would do it all again tomorrow.
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
Page 33
Transporting a heavy chest full of coins up a tall flight of stairs was no picnic, even after Ehlissa offered to stuff her purse with coins to lighten the load. Yrag kept urging them on, wishing for the relative safety of the surface world before he could take his time to search for false bottoms on the chest.
Once they reached the top of the stairs and the ruined keep, Tenser watched intently as Yrag tipped over the chest and began tapping on the bottom. He reached inside and shoveled out the coins with his hand so he could get to the bottom from the inside. He tapped on the inside bottom and then all around the sides of the chest. He slid his fist down to the bottom of the top-facing side, pulled down, and punched upward to see if he could make the wood perceptively buckle and judge how close to the bottom of the chest it was.
Frustrated by his lack of findings, Yrag glanced up at Tenser. "Do they teach you anything about searching chests in wizard school?" Yrag asked with irritation in his voice.
"I must have missed that day," Tenser answered flatly.
Yrag grumbled and continued searching.
Once they reached the top of the stairs and the ruined keep, Tenser watched intently as Yrag tipped over the chest and began tapping on the bottom. He reached inside and shoveled out the coins with his hand so he could get to the bottom from the inside. He tapped on the inside bottom and then all around the sides of the chest. He slid his fist down to the bottom of the top-facing side, pulled down, and punched upward to see if he could make the wood perceptively buckle and judge how close to the bottom of the chest it was.
Frustrated by his lack of findings, Yrag glanced up at Tenser. "Do they teach you anything about searching chests in wizard school?" Yrag asked with irritation in his voice.
"I must have missed that day," Tenser answered flatly.
Yrag grumbled and continued searching.
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Thursday, April 11, 2013
Page 32
Tenser was still fishing his hands through the copper pieces. Yrag glanced down bitterly at his dented shield and wondered if all that copper would even be enough to pay for having the dent banged out. But he remembered his first kill in a dungeon and his first taste of loot and could not begrudge Tenser his excitement at having won this prize, as slight as it was. And Yrag still hoped to find more hidden in the chest, mixed in with all that copper.
"Right," Yrag said at last. He guessed they had been resting about 10 minutes since the battle and there was at least a 1 in 6 chance of something showing up soon to give them trouble again. "Close up that chest. We'll take the whole thing with us, topside..."
"Right," Yrag said at last. He guessed they had been resting about 10 minutes since the battle and there was at least a 1 in 6 chance of something showing up soon to give them trouble again. "Close up that chest. We'll take the whole thing with us, topside..."
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