The boar snorts and grunts, chewing on the gold flaked grass growing on the forest floor.
"Hold…" Liaz instructs me, "...Hold."
"I'm holding. I'm holding." I'm getting irritated. I heard him the first time.
"Hold…" A vein bulges in my head. "...Fire!"
I click the arcane rifle trigger. There's a loud crack, like lightning striking. The rifle ploughs into my shoulder. It lifts off the ground as a flash of light streaks across the clearing and slams into the wild boar's side.
"A brilliant shot, Ren!" Liaz exclaims proudly, rushing towards the dead boar. The herd that was with it rushes away in the direction opposite us. "Aim higher next time so you don't char the meat so badly."
"Can we still eat it?" I ask, joining Liaz next to the boar's body.
"The bullet only hit one side, so we should be able to salvage most of it." Liaz pulls out one of Whisperclaw's daggers, which she gave him to use if he ever runs out of bullets in a fight, and cuts into the boar's flesh.
We are in the middle of the Goblin Forest on Floor 1, inside the Tower of Abell. It's been almost twenty-four hours since we fled Amacedia. Liaz taught me how to shoot a rifle while we hunted some boar for food.
"Let's hurry and get this meat back to the others," I help Liaz wrap the raw flesh of the boar in pieces of cloth in his bag. "I'm sure they're all hungry, and we need to get moving if we want to stay ahead of bounty hunters."
"Right." Liaz speeds up, fully stripping the boar in minutes.
It takes us a few moments to cover our tracks, but we eventually return to where the others have set up camp: a makeshift canopy made of me, Ironvine, and Goldenclaw's capes. These capes are tied together and attached to nearby trees. It might not be comfortable, but it helps us blend in with the foliage. More importantly, it's a place we can rest and call home.
"We're back!" I duck underneath the canopy and see Ironvine and Glimmer sitting across from each other, using two logs as seats. They are locked into an intense game of Dice and Bones. They are about to announce their totals.
"8 and 2 bones," Ironvine says, trying to sound confident.
"8 and 2 bones?" Glimmer looks nervous. "I've got 3 and 10 bones."
"You think I'd believe that?" Irovine looks baffled at Glimmer's obvious bluff. "I'm raising you 10 gold coins."
"Damnit, you got me." Glimmer laughs, "So I'll match your 10 gold coins and use a reroll."
Ironvine sucks his teeth and they both pick up their cups and shake them again.
"Knock, knock!" I say, a little louder this time. "A welcome back would be nice!"
"Oh!" Glimmer and Ironvine stop shaking their cups to look at me and Liaz entering, "Welcome back!"
"Where's Whisper and Gold?" Liaz asks, walking over to an underground fire pit we dug to keep the smoke from giving our location away. "They haven't returned from scouting yet?"
"Not yet." Ironvine stands up from his log and follows Liaz to the pit. "You need help cooking?"
Whisperclaw and Goldenclaw had decided to scout the path to the Dungeon we're looking for. It will take us directly to the boss room. Liaz is right to worry, there are still bounty hunters and Sellsword knights looking for us. I walk over to Glimmer and take Ironvine's seat.
"Ironvine, do you mind if I play this round for you?" I peek underneath his cup.
He currently has 2 and 1 bone, a low roll.
"Yeah, I don't care." Ironvine throws a nonchalant hand up. "I was probably losing anyway. Glimmer's better than me."
"That's cheating, right?" Glimmer looks between me and Ironvine and then at Liaz, "That has to be cheating."
"I don't know..." Liaz chuckles. "If Ironvine didn't look at his roll yet, it's a free game in my opinion."
"Tsk. Fine! I'll let it slide this time, but don't even think about trying it again." Glimmer points his index finger at my face. "I was just about to kick IV's butt."
"You were not." Ironvine glares over his shoulder.
"Oh really, you dare doubt me, you purple-haired ape?" Glimmer stands up and proudly announces, "Nine! That's my total!"
"Thirteen," I say calmly, lying through my teeth.
"What?" Glimmer's mouth is wide open.
"I said my total was thirteen," I repeat.
"No way." Glimmer falls to his knees and counts the gold left in his pouch. "If I keep playing like this, I'm going to end up bankrupt."
I can see at least 5 gold coins left inside the pouch. Looking at Ironvine's gold, I see at least 20 left.
"I'll go all in," I calmly push Ironvine's gold coin pile into the middle of the stump we are playing on.
"Screw that!" Glimmer zips his pouch shut and slams his fist down on the table. "You cheated!"
"Just lift the damn cups already!" Liaz yells from the fire pit.
We both lift our cups, revealing my 2 and 1 bone, and Glimmer's 9 bones. I smile, scraping together all the gold coins in the pot and placing them in my bag. A total of 42.
"That was an excellent roll," I say, counting my winnings. "Too bad you backed out."
"That's…" Glimmer's face turns a darker shade of blue, "...You tricked me!"
"That's how the game works, Glimmer." We all look towards the entrance to the camp and see Whisperclaw walking in with Goldenclaw. "I'm glad to see you are improving, Renald."
"More importantly, the Dungeon path is safe." Goldenclaw sits next to Glimmer. "We should arrive in about a day, if we leave within the hour."
"Great." I stand up right as Whisperclaw sits down beside me. "I'll pack."
"Hold on, you're not playing again?" Glimmer lowers his head in defeat. "I wanted a chance to win my money back."
"Maybe another day, Glimm." I pat him on the shoulder, then walk off, sorting through and organizing our supplies.
All together, we currently have four sets of Ironvine's healing pills, a medical pack, an emergency surgery kit, five healing potions, about ten ounces of gunpowder for Liaz's pistols, a small case of bullets, and three purple arcane crystals to power Liaz's rifle.
"Order up!" Ironvine calls out to me as I finish. He places a steel skillet, also Liaz's, filled with what looks like a stew.
Steam drifts off of it, and bits of boar meat float to the top of the golden broth. It smells amazing.
"Woah!" Glimmer stares down at the pot, licking his lips in anticipation.
I walk up and sit next to Whisperclaw. Ironvine drags another log in front of the stump, and he and Liaz sit down as well.
"Alright, give me one second here…" Liaz rummages around in his knapsack and pulls out 5 wooden bowls and a single wooden cup. He passes each of us a bowl and keeps the cup for himself. "Now, watch how I do it."
Liaz dips his cup into the broth and scoops out a reasonable amount. We all take turns following suit, each scooping out a bit of the soup using our bowls.
"It smells yummy, guys, but how do you eat it?" Whisperclaw asks. "We have no spoons or forks."
"Like this." Goldenclaw puts his lips on the bowl and tilts it up, allowing the broth to fall into his mouth.
"Oh." Whisperclaw does the same, as does everyone else, until we are finished.
"That was delicious!" Glimmer says, stretching deeply.
"Yes. It was." Goldenclaw nods in agreement. "Well done to the chefs."
"I can't believe you guys made all that out of the scraps of boar meat we brought back," I stretch as well.
"I don't care how you did it…" Whisperclaw licks her bowl clean, "...just make sure you do it again tonight."
"It was all Liaz." Ironvine chuckles, "I don't know how we did it. I just listened to his instructions."
"Come on, guys, that's enough." Liaz stands up and gathers all the dishes. "We'd better get out of here before anyone smells our breakfast."
We take about an hour to pack everything and completely disassemble our makeshift canopy, then we're off, following Goldenclaw through the dense foliage of the Goblin Forest.