*while sitting at the bar in Moe's tavern, Gaius Acanthus drinks his ale while surrounded by a half a dozen travelers who are all watching him. He sets down his mug and wipes the ale from his goatee and turns to face the on-lookers*
....and then, I summoned a gigantic frozen hand and squeezed the hulking undead monster until it once again ceased to exist!
*the small crowd of people begin to cheer and ask for another tale*
Oh, alright if you insist... but this guy *points to a rather tall, lanky, bearded man named Tom* is buying my next round! No, seriously, I will not be able to regale you with another story unless I get another pint.
*Tom's face blushes slightly as his gaze shifts from person to person in the bar, all of whom are looking to him to pay Gaius' bar tab. He then reluctantly gives Moe 2 silver pieces.*
That's a good man! Many thanks for your generosity! Now, I shall tell you the tale of how I braved the depths of a mystical cave in order to seek a great treasure! About a month ago, I (Gaius the Great) was sitting here on this very bar stool that you see before you, when a strange man walked in and took a seat at the bar right beside me. He was a gruff looking man probably around 45 years old. He carried with him a backpack with a shield strapped to it and a sword at his side and he wore a long face: the face of a man who knew the bitter taste of defeat. He was defiantly an adventurer. So I asked him where he had come from and what the cause was for his horrific aura of depression. He sighed and said "I've just returned from a fool's errand to retrieve some stupid artifact from a cave for a wizard. I lost my comrade in an attempt to obtain the treasure but alas, I failed." I felt deep sorrow for the man and bought him a pint of ale (just as my good friend Tom here did for me) but at the same time an overwhelming sense of intrigue. So I asked him where this cave was that he came from and, after two more pints of ale, the weary traveler revealed the location of the cave to me. He told me that if I traveled South East long enough, I would come upon a very small mountain range with one spire-like peak in the center ( ____/\____ ) and that through some overgrowth, I would find the entrance to the cave. So after being sure that he had a room for the night upstairs, I made my way to the cave... *Gaius takes another swig of ale* It took about two days worth of travel thanks to my trusty stead Accursius (who is stabled outside). I finally found the spire peak that the adventurer spoke of and made my way through a small patch of overgrowth. After pushing through the irritating vegetation, I saw it- the cave's entrance! But there was something else that I found as well.... THE BODY OF AN ADVENTURER LAYING DECEASED ON THE GROUND!!!!
*the crowd, leaning forward on the edge of their seats, all jumped back, startled, and let out a collective gasp*
As I approached, I began to sense a strong arcane presence in the area. Then, all of the sudden, a guttural voice called out from within the cave and said "You will not leave this place alive!". Then it spoke in some tongue unknown to me. I felt the earth under my feet start to shake and the body (of I assume the adventurer's companion) started to writhe on the ground. It had to be a necromancer, and this was his new puppet... So as the undead adventurer got up on it's corpsey rotten feet, I readied myself for battle. I fired a glowing arcane projectile straight through the zombie's skull, blasting it brain out the other end rendering it re-dead. Now knowing what types of foul creatures I was to face in this mystical cave, I took some time to prepare some spells for use inside. Sure enough, as soon as I walked into the cave I was staring straight into the soulless eyes of an undead horde. Unfortunatly for them, I have alittle bit of experience in dealing with the undead, like I told you before. I cast a spell that created a cloud of floating daggers around the horde and commanded the daggers to do my dirty work. The daggers flew through their skulls and even severed a few heads...
*a confused looking Tom raises his hand...*
Um,why did you keep attacking them in the head like that???
*Gaius sighed, remembering that he was talking to both:1) a crowd of people who have never fought anything more fearsome than a wolf attacking their cattle and 2) a bunch of drunk men*
Well, Tom my good fellow, Zombies can live with severed body parts! It is only when you remove the heads or destroy their brains that they are truly defeated. Now then... After defeating around 100 of these zombie minions, I Finally reached a large circular room with a small alter raised in the center of it. There was a light from a hole in the ceiling shining down on the alter and in the center of the alter, held by a stone dragon claw was a shard of some type. I knew that this must be the treasure that the adventurer spoke of. Then, out of nowhere, the necromancer appeared! The necromancer held up his staff and said "The Shard is mine! I've dispensed of countless adventurers before you! You must be mad to think that you will take what I have controlled for years". Then, out of the ground, two huge zombies emerged. I readied my self and cast a huge fire ball in between the zombies and the necromancer. The zombies, I knew, were very weak against the fire element and the let out a scream when the ball of flames exploded around them. Then, as I felt a rush of adrenaline, I cast yet another spell... this time, I caused grease to appear magically from thin air right in front of the zombies. The necromancer cast his own spell at me: his own fire spell! It did burn my friends, but no worries, he is not as crafty when it comes to fire spells as I am! As I formulated a plan to defeat my adversary, the Zombies started moving towards me, which was just what I wanted them to do. They immediately slipped on the grease and slid back to where they started! It was just then that I knew what I would do. Though I knew that the Necromancer would hit me once more, I had to figure out a way to get rid of these zombie hulks for good. So I conjured a ball of fire where the zombies were landing after slipping on the grease, this would continue to damage them while I dealt with the necromancer. The Necromancer hit me once more with his fire spell. As I shrugged off the pain from the flames, I cast a spell that caused the necromancer to be afflicted with illusionary visions that would keep him from seeing me. The zombies got back up once again, only this time my flaming sphere was there to greet them. They were injured by flames once more. Now with the necromancer's mind clouded, I could properly deal with him. I started flinging arcane bolts directly at the necromancer and watched as he was hit without being aware of where the hits were coming from. Meanwhile, I chuckled to myself as I watched the zombie hulks get up, get burned, slip, and get burned again, over and over until the eventually keeled over. I made them look like fools! Soon, I noticed that the necromancer to had fallen over dead. Now, the shard that he spoke of was mine!
*Gaius pulls the dragonshard out of his pack for all of them to see*
Now I have the Shard of the Mage, and am one step closer to being the greatest wizard of all time!
*the crowd of travelers clap and cheer in amazement from Gaius' story. And he takes a bow*
....and then, I summoned a gigantic frozen hand and squeezed the hulking undead monster until it once again ceased to exist!
*the small crowd of people begin to cheer and ask for another tale*
Oh, alright if you insist... but this guy *points to a rather tall, lanky, bearded man named Tom* is buying my next round! No, seriously, I will not be able to regale you with another story unless I get another pint.
*Tom's face blushes slightly as his gaze shifts from person to person in the bar, all of whom are looking to him to pay Gaius' bar tab. He then reluctantly gives Moe 2 silver pieces.*
That's a good man! Many thanks for your generosity! Now, I shall tell you the tale of how I braved the depths of a mystical cave in order to seek a great treasure! About a month ago, I (Gaius the Great) was sitting here on this very bar stool that you see before you, when a strange man walked in and took a seat at the bar right beside me. He was a gruff looking man probably around 45 years old. He carried with him a backpack with a shield strapped to it and a sword at his side and he wore a long face: the face of a man who knew the bitter taste of defeat. He was defiantly an adventurer. So I asked him where he had come from and what the cause was for his horrific aura of depression. He sighed and said "I've just returned from a fool's errand to retrieve some stupid artifact from a cave for a wizard. I lost my comrade in an attempt to obtain the treasure but alas, I failed." I felt deep sorrow for the man and bought him a pint of ale (just as my good friend Tom here did for me) but at the same time an overwhelming sense of intrigue. So I asked him where this cave was that he came from and, after two more pints of ale, the weary traveler revealed the location of the cave to me. He told me that if I traveled South East long enough, I would come upon a very small mountain range with one spire-like peak in the center ( ____/\____ ) and that through some overgrowth, I would find the entrance to the cave. So after being sure that he had a room for the night upstairs, I made my way to the cave... *Gaius takes another swig of ale* It took about two days worth of travel thanks to my trusty stead Accursius (who is stabled outside). I finally found the spire peak that the adventurer spoke of and made my way through a small patch of overgrowth. After pushing through the irritating vegetation, I saw it- the cave's entrance! But there was something else that I found as well.... THE BODY OF AN ADVENTURER LAYING DECEASED ON THE GROUND!!!!
*the crowd, leaning forward on the edge of their seats, all jumped back, startled, and let out a collective gasp*
As I approached, I began to sense a strong arcane presence in the area. Then, all of the sudden, a guttural voice called out from within the cave and said "You will not leave this place alive!". Then it spoke in some tongue unknown to me. I felt the earth under my feet start to shake and the body (of I assume the adventurer's companion) started to writhe on the ground. It had to be a necromancer, and this was his new puppet... So as the undead adventurer got up on it's corpsey rotten feet, I readied myself for battle. I fired a glowing arcane projectile straight through the zombie's skull, blasting it brain out the other end rendering it re-dead. Now knowing what types of foul creatures I was to face in this mystical cave, I took some time to prepare some spells for use inside. Sure enough, as soon as I walked into the cave I was staring straight into the soulless eyes of an undead horde. Unfortunatly for them, I have alittle bit of experience in dealing with the undead, like I told you before. I cast a spell that created a cloud of floating daggers around the horde and commanded the daggers to do my dirty work. The daggers flew through their skulls and even severed a few heads...
*a confused looking Tom raises his hand...*
Um,why did you keep attacking them in the head like that???
*Gaius sighed, remembering that he was talking to both:1) a crowd of people who have never fought anything more fearsome than a wolf attacking their cattle and 2) a bunch of drunk men*
Well, Tom my good fellow, Zombies can live with severed body parts! It is only when you remove the heads or destroy their brains that they are truly defeated. Now then... After defeating around 100 of these zombie minions, I Finally reached a large circular room with a small alter raised in the center of it. There was a light from a hole in the ceiling shining down on the alter and in the center of the alter, held by a stone dragon claw was a shard of some type. I knew that this must be the treasure that the adventurer spoke of. Then, out of nowhere, the necromancer appeared! The necromancer held up his staff and said "The Shard is mine! I've dispensed of countless adventurers before you! You must be mad to think that you will take what I have controlled for years". Then, out of the ground, two huge zombies emerged. I readied my self and cast a huge fire ball in between the zombies and the necromancer. The zombies, I knew, were very weak against the fire element and the let out a scream when the ball of flames exploded around them. Then, as I felt a rush of adrenaline, I cast yet another spell... this time, I caused grease to appear magically from thin air right in front of the zombies. The necromancer cast his own spell at me: his own fire spell! It did burn my friends, but no worries, he is not as crafty when it comes to fire spells as I am! As I formulated a plan to defeat my adversary, the Zombies started moving towards me, which was just what I wanted them to do. They immediately slipped on the grease and slid back to where they started! It was just then that I knew what I would do. Though I knew that the Necromancer would hit me once more, I had to figure out a way to get rid of these zombie hulks for good. So I conjured a ball of fire where the zombies were landing after slipping on the grease, this would continue to damage them while I dealt with the necromancer. The Necromancer hit me once more with his fire spell. As I shrugged off the pain from the flames, I cast a spell that caused the necromancer to be afflicted with illusionary visions that would keep him from seeing me. The zombies got back up once again, only this time my flaming sphere was there to greet them. They were injured by flames once more. Now with the necromancer's mind clouded, I could properly deal with him. I started flinging arcane bolts directly at the necromancer and watched as he was hit without being aware of where the hits were coming from. Meanwhile, I chuckled to myself as I watched the zombie hulks get up, get burned, slip, and get burned again, over and over until the eventually keeled over. I made them look like fools! Soon, I noticed that the necromancer to had fallen over dead. Now, the shard that he spoke of was mine!
*Gaius pulls the dragonshard out of his pack for all of them to see*
Now I have the Shard of the Mage, and am one step closer to being the greatest wizard of all time!
*the crowd of travelers clap and cheer in amazement from Gaius' story. And he takes a bow*
