Tristin had closed his eyes. And accepted his fate. Oh too die so young, how pitiful no doubt his story would fit well into an Old Aarysh tragedy. He could already envision the beautiful stage where a theatrical troop would play out his dramatic final moments. The sadness in the audience's eyes as the tragic hero was swallowed up by a huge grotesque monster never to be seen again.
Only he did not die. For whatever reason he was still alive. Hanging by his tunic perfectly hooked on the Tanngrisnirs horn like a cute accessory. He opened his eyes to see the ruined street, and covered by dust yet still standing was the Hound and the cheating bastard from the tavern. Locked in a stalemate against the Great beast who had lowered its head in preparation for a charge. It was a waiting game, He who acted first could determine the ending of this story.
The mage turned to the hound "Are you ready?" The only answer was a nod. "Go"
The hound ran right down the middle of the street, Towards the Tanngrisnir head. A high pitched tune rang out from behind "_/_/_/o\_\_\_" And the hound split into two. A pair of twins almost fully identical other than the fact the left one lacked a pupil in its eyes. And its shape seemed sort of distorted. An illusion. One took the right side of the street, the other the left. The Tanngrisnirs sole eye could only keep track of one. It opted for the left. Slamming down its hoof in an attempt to crush it yet it only turned into a mist of colors.
Opip Used one of the destroyed stalls as a leaping point. She managed to grab onto the ruined red and white cloth which clung to the Tanngrisnir's upper right horn.
The Tanngrisnir did not notice her but instead shifted his focus to the mage or where the mage should have been. "/O|O\" The mage had disappeared. Frustrated, the creature looked around the ruined street searching for its enemies.
It could not notice the sly hound creeping up the side of its head nor could it see the quiet footsteps in the dust slowly approaching. However it could determine the sound of the vailing hill-folk on its upper left horn.
"/ooo//o" A sound echoed across the street like the eruption of a fire mountain. A tremendous sound which could crack the earth itself. It had erupted from the mage right under the beast's nose. The mage became visible after casting his spell yet it did not matter. The enormous creature staggered back up on its hindlegs confused. It caused the cloth which was attached to the horn to slip, which did not matter to the hound who was already on its head.
Opip raised her sword with both hands and brought it down into the beast's head, right through its skull and down into its soft organs. The Tanngrisnir's eye rolled back and it began to tilt.
Opip did not need to retrieve her blade, it would be fine no matter the impact from the ground, now she only needed to think about how she would escape from this fall. "What about me!" Oh right was all Opip could think as she looked into the frightened eyes of the hill-folk still stuck to the creature's horn. There was a non definitive chance that he would be crushed to mush beneath the creatures weight when it fell which was any second now.
"umm good luck" and with those words the hound leapt off the head onto the roof of a nearby building. The Tanngrisnir began to fall. First slowly and gracefully then a rapid descent onto the dirty muddy street. The creature had lost its original grace, its white fur now coloured by dirt and blood. Its face ruined and its soul lost. Its large body laid unmoving except for a few strands of its hair which was picked up by the wind. One of its horns had become lodged onto a building and on it, a hillfolk hung in the wind like a tunic on a cloth rack.
Tristin slowly slipped off the horn and came down onto the ground. With shaky legs and a defiant smile he stated "im alive?" After checking once more he exclaimed with the happiest tune he had had for months "Im Alive!" It had been a long time since he had taken any real joy in living. But this felt like a achievement.
"Most people are, don't think you're special" The old mage stumbled forth from the cloud of dust which had formed when the beast fell. He approached the creature's side and gave it a good kick. When there came no response he gained a satisfied grin. "That's for my arm".
"I never got your name" Tristin approached the old mages side. He too pondered if he should kick the now dead beast. But for moral reasons decided not to disturb the dead.
"Jakurk Mianta, It means Wise lord" Jakurks arm was still twisted in a horrific way it would likely cost quite the coin to afford a healer who could fix his arm. "Does your name have a meaning, Tristin?"
"no" Tristin meant wood fairy in the Nahun tongue, but it was a bit of an embarrassing name which was meant to give good fortune but for tristin it seemed to do the opposite.
"Beautiful necklace by the way, looks pretty expensive?" Around Jakurks neck was a necklace made of iron, impossibly complex with the most intricate details. It resembles a face although distorted and ruined.
"It's nothing special" Jakurk didn't mean to do it but he impulsively hid the figurine within his hand, and then put the whole necklace back beneath his cloth. It was not some jewelry which told of higher status, it was not something meant to be shown.
"You may want to have a healer look at your arm, I know one with rather cheap prices" Tristin started to see an opportunity before him. If he could put this kind old mage in his debt, then he might be able to finish what he had started.
"Really, that would actually be kind of helpful" What a reliable young man, with connections. Perhaps he could become a future asset in exploring the dungeon, as a helper, negotiator or maybe even as a party member. Although the last part might need to be rethought, it didn't seem like the hill folk was all that much of a use in a fight. And if he really could find a dragon within this dungeon then Jakurk would need capable people at his side in order to bring it down, like that hound.
"I would like to join you, to the healer" The dust had settled and the hound slid her way over the white fur of the dead Tanngrisnir and joined the pair at its side. "Im Opip, Warrior" She extended her hand in a greeting to Tristin which he politely declined.
"Tristin, Tristin Daehult" Tristin looked the hound up and down, a quick inspection of her buckled armour revealed she had taken quite some damage during the battle. "You know you almost killed me" Things had worked out in the end, but Tristin came close to death many times due to the hounds actions. But what could you expect, the hounds like many of the non folk races of the world had no respect for the noble hill folk. Nor did they care about their plight.
Tristin had heard that most hounds were a nomadic people, who traveled the lands of central,southern and eastern Cezen in large clans, pillaging and raiding wherever they went. Criminals within their culture were exiled, and banished from their lands. In other words it was very likely that the hound before him was just that, a dirty criminal from a foreign land.
Opip tilted her head, her tail swaying in the wind. She seemed to think for a moment. "Oh because i threw you.. sorry" Opip did feel a little bit guilty. But her face portrayed no emotion. Tristin simply glared.
"It was one silver a day right, for your service?" Jakurk counted the coin he had won with his immense talent for gambling. It totaled forty silver. "Il hire you for twenty days" From how good the hound was in combat to how it could follow a quick plan without fail it was worth every coin and then some. Plus it would actually be easier to join a party if you could negotiate it as a combination of two teams instead of just begging for someone to hire you.
"Oh i remember you, the metal man" Opip was delighted the first real job in days and all she had to do to get it was risk her life for a single silver. And now that she thought about it, what's going to happen to her current contract now that the beast is dead?
"It's Jakurk actually" He almost sighed but held it back. After all it would be uncool of him to get mad at such a young soul for missing his name. But then again actually knowing your employer name is a key skill while doing any job.
The street began to get lively once more. People who had gone to hide came out once more to check the damage. Others walked carelessly by as they had more important business to attend to. Normalcy began to return to the port town.
But what caught people's interest almost as much as the dead Tanngrisnir was the vailing Earth-folk by the creature's side. "Nooo, My income, my reputation, my future, it's all over" Gart Ballamir sat in the dust and mud. Fully realising that he had most likely failed big time. He had thought that the hound would keep it busy, not actually kill it. And where the hell was the sword guild anyway?
"So about my payment, one coin for every minute was it?" One hand out and waiting patiently for the cold coin Opip was already by his side waiting for her payment.
"Do you really think I'm paying you anything for this?" Gart was mad, sad and just a little bit disappointed in himself. But what little blame he laid on himself was nothing compared to what he laid onto others. "That beast was my ticket out of this place, and now?!" He took a few quick breaths. "Now I'll have to spend my life savings on fixing these damages" He waved his hand around the broken street.
Disappointed but somewhat understanding of the situation, Opip took her hand back. It wasn't like she didn't have a job anymore since she'd just been hired by the metal man.
"Wait a minute are you saying the great house of coin cant afford to pay an Apnir? must be falling on some bad times?" Tristin and Jakurk joined the conversation with Tristin as its lead. "Are you really going to go back on your word to pay this noble warrior? i suppose the guild has fallen from the grace it had when i was young" Jakurk backed him up.
Opip was a bit surprised by the sudden support but it wasn't unwelcomed. Now for why they decided to join, the reason was simple. No one, not a single soul or person outside of the house of coin liked the house of coin. They were greedy, bossy and acted like they were above everyone else just because they had played a big part in the fall of the Orrain Dynasty. There wasn't an adventurer out there who had not been scammed, cheated or been done wrong by a member of the House of coin.
"Actually I know quite a lot, like the fact you embezzled the funds which were meant to go to repairing the town wall, or the fact that you have raised dock tax by twenty procent ever since people started calling it the Black dungeon Rävnäs." Tristin stood above the man pointing his finger in his face. Fully focused on the task at hand, making money. His knowledge was based purely on rumors but with the kind of man Gart was it wasn't hard to believe them.
Practically cursing beneath his breath Gart broke off his pouch from his belt. From it he poured quite a few silver coins onto his hand. Counted them up to eighteen. "Is this enough"
Readily Opip stretched out her hand but it was stopped by Tristins. " A coin per minute was it, we fought for at least twenty and when you ad the time for when it escaped to the time it reached me and that mage then its at least twenty two or twenty three"
A few more coins trickled into Garts hand. Which Tristin greedily took, he handed twenty of the coins to Opip and kept four for himself. "payment for the living ammunition" he said in a sarcastic tone. Opip did not mind, She was baffled by the amount of coin she now had. Forty in combination with the mages payment.
Speaking of the mage he held out a hand of his own. Reluctantly Tristin placed a coin in his hand. Opip placed two less reluctant which caused Trisitn to quickly place another. Gart spat on the ground before attempting to leave.
"Sir Ballamir leaving so soon" As if he had appeared from thin air right there on the now busy street was a half elf. Resting on a spear, covered in a silvery chain mail and with a few red feathers braided into his long black hair. Behind him on the street were our men in similar dark brown attire each with a short sword and steel buckler.
"Ah.. Krita, i had hoped your men would arrive on scene when the guilds assets are at stake" Gart knew he was on thin ice, he knew that this had been his last chance but how many others had known that as well?
"We were busy, anyway who should I thank for doing the hard part for us?" The slim half-elf slipped past the short earth-folk with ease. And pressed his spear on the dead creature's hoof.
"That would be me," Opip proudly stepped forth. "And me" Jakurk readjusted his ugly blue coat. "I also… I helped" Tristin seemed unsure if he should have spoken or not.
"And who's paying for the damages?" All three pointed their fingers towards the short earth-folk running down the street towards the docks. "He won't get very far" Krita could not help but smile at the attempt. Before he signalled two of his men to give chase.
"My names Krita, just Krita, and you can see me as a sort of representative of both the sword guild and the ruler of the island" Kritas eyes darted around the ruined street his face only portrayed a scheming smile and it was clear to both Jakurk and Tristin that this man was not as friendly as he appeared to be.
"Any of you interested in joining the sword guild" He gained a collective no. One voiced by Opip a simple head shake by Tristin and the mage looked away as if he hadn't heard what he had said.
The sword guild, was a mercenary organisation which could be found in the northern part of the world. They were something in between an organisation of adventurers, a private army and the mob. They were also a part of the Tri-guild-Alliance, comprising the House of coin, Sword guild and Anglers Guild.
"Alright then, but know that the door is always open." Jakurk felt a sharp pain in his arm and Opip could feel the adrenaline from the battle disappear and turn into a sharp pain. "You two should probably see a healer, we'll take away the beast, and skin it for parts, well give you a cut of course it's only fair, step by the guild house later, it's by the market."
There were a few ways adventurers made coins from the dungeon. The most famous way was simply exploring. Old ruins hidden deep in the deepest dark held jewels, magic items and gold worth small fortunes. Another was hunting almost equally as famed as it included hunting monsters specifically for their body parts which could be used for potions, food, armor and weapons among many, many other things.
"I know where that is, I can take you there after we visit the healer" Trisitn gained the others' attention. And they decided to not stick around the silent half-elf for too much longer. As they left one of Kritas men approached him.
"I wonder if they'll form a party?"
"If they do, they are sure to go far" Krita observed the fallen Tanngrisnir, a large beast from what they for the moment thought was one of the middle layers of the dungeon. It wasn't bad work for a party of three.
"But."
"But?"
"They will betray one another, Only one of them will leave this island, that is my prediction"