the music makes the reading better, so click that flag fr So, the old man opened the south gate of Rethmaur, and made a motion with his hand to follow. Me and Grugg shrugged and followed him through the strange exit gate. For some context, me and Grugg had no clue there was a south gate, we only knew of the front and side gates. So, I guess the ol’ guy has more uses than even I initially assumed. As we all left, and Grugg closed the door behind us, I asked the old man, “Don’t get me wrong, dude. I like walking just as much as the next guy, but 50 miles is a long freaking way man. Do you have some kind of way to get us there faster?” I asked the old man. He gave me one of his famous wry smiles. “Take a look up ahead near the checkpoint. Tell me, what do you see?” He asked me, with a knowing smirk across his face. I looked and to my surprise, 3 horses were standing in a pen, fully outfitted with basic armor, saddles, and rations. “Dude, you really know how to plan ahead, huh?” The old man gave deep guffaw. “I try.” He said after laughing a bit more. Grugg started to walk faster toward the horses. He turned his head and shouted back, “Have fun at the comedy club, gramps. I gotta get on this horse asap. I can’t walk much longer. I’m a pretty big dude.” Grugg quipped, making his way to a dark brown horse in rusted steel armor. For context, Grugg is 6’5” 275 lbs, he has a gut from snacking on too much barbecued mutton, but he’s a total tank in battle and is the strongest son of a gun this side of Rethmaur Valley. “Alright bro, I’m on my way. I can’t wait to finally get a break from all this dang walking.” Once me and the boys hopped on our horses, we made our way to Tarathia much faster. It was still a pretty long trip but we made it there by dusk, and the old man requested entry from one of the watchmen. “State ‘yer business.” The watchman demanded. “We’re here to rest for the evening. We’ve traveled a long way and need sanctuary at one of your fine inns.” The old man replied. “Alright, let em in!” the watchman called out. The gate rose up and we entered. We were making our way down the stone street when we heard a yell and commotion coming from a marketplace shop. “Looks like something is going down, I’m gonna check it out.” I told the rest of the party, walking over to see what was happening. To my surprise, it wasn’t some kind of mishap, but a tall, green skinned, man with 2 large scars across his back, with iron pants and jet black, spiked boots. He had thrown a village man to the ground and was demanding he hand over a specific item by the name of, “Tarathium Trogloxite” the villager was cowering on the ground as he was being pelted with kicks by the ruthless green skinned man. I started to approach them to get the green dude off of the villager’s case, but as I approached, a woman in some kind of a robelike flowing dress walked up to the green man. She said, “It would be in your best interest to stop. Now.” The green skinned man laughed a, loud, screechy, high-pitched laugh. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO SOMEONE LIKE ME? DO YOU WANT TO BE NEXT?” He laughed, throwing his hand to slap her and to his utter shock, she calmly evaded his blow and shot a blast of small, yellow light against his ribcage. (continued in notes and credits)
When I tell you this man let out the loudest, sharpest scream I have ever heard, I am not exaggerating, by any extent of the imagination. It was crystal clear to me that this girl was not to be messed with. The green man twitched and shook on the ground and weakly stood to his feet and stumbled into an alleyway- out of view. The crowd of bystanders applauded her efforts and she took a bow. I walked over to her and said, “Hey, I was going to take care of that, y’know.” She turned and smirked and said, “By the looks of it, I was better suited to handle the situation, anyhow.” I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t reply. She added, “He was one of the patrollers for this cloaked man who appeared in our village not more than 2 weeks ago.” My face immediately took on an expression of recognition. She looked at me with a keen expression. “I assume he’s visited you too, then.” She remarked. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here. This old guy and my bro Grugg came here for materials to help us train to defeat this cloaked figure.” I replied. She took a moment to think, and then offered me a proposal. “I hate this cloaked man as well, but for a different reason. You see, while he was here, my older brother Marcello was cut down and defeated by this cloaked figure for attempting to attack him with a sword. I have been honing my skills to try and avenge him. However, I feel like I’ll have a much easier time with that with you guys, if you know what you’re doing. It eats away at me, it keeps me up at night, I can’t let my brother’s death be in vain. So, allow me to join your team and you guys can stay at my family mansion for a night, and I’ll give you 20,000 rollins to stock up on materials you’ll need for the road.” She told me. I nodded slowly. “You’ve got my vote. I’ll have to ask Grugg and the old timer though.” I replied. So, me and her walked to a small tavern where Grugg and the old timer were eating some buttered lamb chops, mashed potatoes, and buttered biscuits. Grugg looked up and asked, “Woah bro, who’s the new girl?” He said, with a cunning gleam in his eye. “I’m Aliya. Aliya Rochester. Nice to make your acquaintances.” She said. For context, Aliya is 5’7”, weight unknown, she has smooth, ivory skin, a healthy, well-endowed build. Her hair is a bright orange, her eyes are orange as well, and she has 7-10 freckles across her face. Upon hearing her proposal, Grugg stood up immediately and blurted out, “YA DANG SURE GOT MY VOTE.” I raised a suspecting eyebrow at him, but said nothing. The old man sat and thought for about 5 minutes and blasted a whole dang fireball at her out of nowehere. “DUDE WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOIN-“ I yelled, but as I was glancing back at her, she calmly deflected the attack and encased the fireball in a crisp, cool, block of ice. The old man nodded, “Yes, she may join us. She has what it takes to become a true warrior one day. Your brother would be proud of you, Aliya.” The old man remarked, sagely. “Glad to be on board, you guys.” She remarked, so she sat down and ordered a grilled chicken with olive oil on it, and I ordered a steak, medium well, with butter on it. While I certainly was anticipating a good meal, something told me this night wouldn’t be calm forever…
