EDIT: I removed some of the babbling from the top of the page. Heh, seems I don't need constructively criticizing either.
This is a story that is based on an old Dungeons and Dragons campaign idea. It will be mainly updated at my website
here. But incase anyone doesn't want to go somewhere else to get updates, I will be posting the draft chapters here as I complete them.
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Chapter 1 - The Beginning...
Ricardo woke up early in the morning and quickly donned his equipment. He headed out of his room and downstairs to the lower levels of The Great Ballad, a mountainside inn. He looked around and sat down at an empty table, before calling a waiter over. He asked for some food, and sat in wait. A couple of minutes later, a small band of mercenaries came down from the upper level, and sat down at the table Ricardo was at.
The first to sit down, directly opposite of Ricardo, and the band's leader, was Luxieth, A trained Elven ranger who could hit a goblin through the eyes from 500ft away. Next came a Half-Orc, who went by the name of Ruxgar. He stood a mighty 6 foot tall, and wielded two large axes. Last of all sat a Kobold, who had been exiled from his pack. Over the year's he had learnt the Common language, and because no-one knew his true name, he was known as Kar.
The barkeep watched the four of them converse, until he heard the creak of a floorboard behind him. He disregarded the sound as being made by the building itself, as it was many years old. However, this wasn't the case, as moment's later heard another, the sound of a sword being unsheathed. He had enough time to let out a small squeal before dropping to the ground, lifeless.
To anyone who wasn't trained in the way of the hunter, that squeal qouldn't have existed. But Luxieth had, and immediately fired a bolt from his crossbow, striking clean through the neck of the mystery assailant, and killing him instantly.
This immediately sparked a reaction in the others, as they leapt to there feet and readied there weapons. Luckily, they timed it right, as just then a large group of bandits smashed the windows of the inn, and fired off ranged weaponry at the four-strong party. Ricardo and Ruxgar deflected many of the darts and arrows sent flying at them, and the others just bounced off their shining plate armour.
Kar looked towards the main doors, and after chanting a few small phrases, sent a large ball of magical fire straight towards the bandit troop that had just entered. As it hit them, the force of the explosion sending them flying, each one of them dropped dead.
Many more of the rag-tag band of thieves tried to jump through the windows, only to be met with a crossbow bolt through the skull. Luxieth stood with his hand outstretched, firing and reloading his crossbow within mere seconds.
Ricardo and Ruxgar kept in front of the others, slicing their large, powerful weapons through the badly woven armor of the enemy. Ruxgar had a large grin on his face as five bandits rushed him at once, just to be left on the ground with their faces smashed with the blunt end of an axe.
Outside of the inn, the commander of the attack watched as his useless group were swiftly whittled down to nothing. In a last ditch attempt he ordered his right-hand man to take down the Kobold. Much to his dismay, however, he was left with another dead body. As the strangers approached him, he turn and attempted to flee. He turned his head once to see how far ahead he was, and saw nothing but two crossbow bolts, which struck through his eyes.
The group of four looked around at the amount of dead that lay inside and outside the inn. Kar stated that he was slightly sorry for the Bandits, as they picked the worst day to try and rob an establishment. The rest just laughed, before sheathing their weapons and heading back inside.
"We really need stronger opponents." Ruxgar said fairly loud, speaking quite well for a Half-Orc, "These guys were no good of a challenge, my axes yearn for a real fight!"
"Well if you take up the job offer, then you can easily find one." Ricardo replied stepping round the back of the counter of the bar. "I heard that one of the Orc Chieftains is as powerful as the Heroes of Legend!" He knelt down and looked at the now deceased barkeeper. "Could someone give me a hand with burying these bodies?"
"Sure thing,"Came the voice of the Elf, leaping over the counter and narrowly avoiding stepping on the corpse. "So how much did you say they were willing to pay?"
"They said that it would be 40,000 gold pieces in total, making it 10,00 for each of us." He picked up the body with Luxieths help and moved it outside. "Hey Kar, you creating a barrier there or something?" He queried, as he stepped back inside the doors.
"Yes it is, let me finish up her and I'll come help with the burials." Replied the kobold, who was hard at work with various Herbs and Vials. Suddenly, a large blue dome surrounded the building. "There we go," He said, "That should keep the place safe for a couple of months.
Half a day later, they had finished burying all the bodies and were sat round the table again, enjoying a well earned meal. After all had finished, they talked among themselves for a short while, finalizing the deal. The newly formed 'party' of adventurers stood up and prepared to set off. They headed out of the main doors of the inn and began travelling Northwards, toward the rough mountain trail that lay before them.
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So there it is, C+C is welcome, and I might have the 2nd chapter finished soon.
