Beyond Chaos – A DiceRPG

No matter how dense Adam was, he understood the situation was rather grave, considering the aura Jurot and Dunes were giving off, but the thing that confused him was that the merchant and the guard, were completely unphased. Adam had never met anyone with such audacity, for the merchant knew Jurot was an Iyrman and Dunes was a Priest of Black Mountain. 

‘I need to keep my mouth shut,’ Adam thought, in a moment of wisdom. 

“What misfortune was this?” Dunes asked, his voice firm. 

“A shipwreck,” the merchant replied. “Does that satisfy you?”

“It does,” Dunes replied, staring down at the sword. He remained focused upon it for a long while, for even Jurot understood the meaning of a green and copper blade, especially one with such a hilt. The only issue was, as much as it would typically be quite terrible luck for them, in this instance, it was extremely fortunate for the Priest, but he needed to play it off as bad luck.

“I will sell this majestic blade for only five thousand, out of respect,” the merchant said, motioning with a hand to allow the Brother and the Iyrman to touch it, to confirm the weapon with their own hands. 

Although any merchant would be in trouble if they sold a fake, for even knowing this weapon was in his possession was dangerous, and the information itself was worth piles of silver and gold, Jurot took his bluff and picked up the blade, feeling the great magic within, something one could not fake. 

“Greater Enhanced,” Jurot confirmed, holding the blade out towards the half elf, causing the merchant to sit a little upright, and the guard to shift slightly as they focused upon the half elf, who wore certain tattoos, but was not an Iyrman. 

“Ooh,” Adam said, holding the sheathed blade, feeling how heavy it was with the sheath, but the heavy tingling sensation tickled through his palm. “Feels as good as Phantom.”

“Five thousand,” Dunes said, hesitating for a moment as he reached for the blade. As Adam held it out, ready to pass it on, Dunes pulled his hand away, feeling as though he were about to commit a taboo. “How much is the other sword?”

“If you buy this sword, I will hand that blade too.”

“Five thousand,” Dunes said, thinking as Adam handed the blade back to Jurot, letting the merchant and guard relax. 

Adam crossed his arms, waiting for the two to make a decision, and seeing how well behaved he was behaving, Jurot held the blade out towards the merchant, allowing him to place it within the box to hide it from the world again, as though the blade was made of sin.

“Five thousand gold is a lot of gold for a blade we will never draw,” Dunes admitted. 

“Is it some kind of-,” Adam coughed, managing to catch himself before he made a joke nobody would get. ‘I can’t believe my only good jokes are those no one can understand.’

“We will buy it,” Jurot said. 

‘A blade we can’t even use?’ Adam thought, but he nodded, since Jurot had already said they would buy it. 

“I would also like two daggers made of hadrasteel, for my niece and nephew,” Dunes said. 

“Consider them gifts,” the merchant said, motioning a hand to his guard, who stepped aside to procure two daggers, each with mahogany handles, each identical, and the merchant wrapped the other longsword in a scarf for them, placing it within a simpler box. As he did, he motioned his hand towards Jurot.

“I am Jurot, son of Surot and Sonarot, and the grandson of the Mad Dog,” Jurot said, noting the merchant’s eyes suddenly fill with surprise at his grandfather’s epithet, even the guard crossed his hands lightly in front of him. “You will receive your payment tonight.”

“Thank you.”

Jurot reached for the large box, and as Adam reached to help carry the others, the merchant snapped his fingers, and the guard stepped forward.

“The Iyrman must pick them up,” the merchant said firmly. 

“He is my brother,” Jurot replied. 

The merchant’s eyes narrowed, for now, it all seemed too suspicious. He narrowed his eyes, and eyed up the holy symbols upon the Priests chests, and then his eyes fell upon Adam’s forehead, as well as Jurot’s, which seemed to match in a way.

“Brother Dunes, why do you not wear your black robes?” the merchant asked.

“I am Manager Dunes of the United Kindom while in Gold Port,” Dunes replied, flashing a white smile towards the merchant. “When I step onto Aswadian soil, I shall be Mo Dunes of Black Mountain.” 

The merchant, upon hearing the appropriate level of threat within Dunes’ voice, bowed his head and let them go. Jurot allowed Adam to pick up the items, and followed the Iyrman out, with Dunes bowing his head in greeting towards the merchant, and stepped out after Adam. 

“Alright! We’re going to be heading out to grab some food, and you can all eat with us, and once we get to the fort, I’ll pay you.” Adam noted the suspicious gazes of the older children, so he slipped a silver coin to each of them. “Consider that a tip. Once we’re at the fort, you’ll earn ten times as much, but at the very least, you’ll have a full tummy and the proper wage anyway.” 

“Yes, boss!”

Adam glanced around, noting none of them had escaped. ‘Good kids.’

As they ate dinner, Adam inviting the soldier, who politely refused, Adam continued to ponder what had happened. 

“How come he sent his guard to do everything?” Adam asked. “Isn’t he meant to be… guarding?”

“He had magical defences.”

“Ah!” Adam slowly nodded his head. “That’s kinda baller.”

“Yes,” Jurot replied, understanding the word to mean something positive, like how Adam was spending all this money. 

Adam, somehow, made the wise decision not to talk about the sword, for the soldier had waited patiently outside out of respect, and in exchange, Adam rewarded that trust by not getting him implicated into something so grave. Thankfully, the presence of an Iyrman, two Priests, and a soldier had allowed the children to eat in peace, though Adam had to fume silently that they had to eat on the floor against the wall. 

‘Seriously…’

Once they were back at the fort, Adam handed the gold coins to each kid, giving them a thumbs up for their hard work.

“Alright! Tomorrow, I want to see you all ready for work! I’m going on a spending spree while I’m in Gold Port, since I can’t explore it, I should at least spend my money! If you don’t see me, you’ll see one of these fine folks going on my behalf, so if you see them, help them out and they’ll also pay you a gold for the day’s work, alright?”

“Yes, boss!” 

‘These brats are making more in a day than me,’ the soldier thought, slightly annoyed, though upon recalling how much Adam had handed over to the fortress that morning, he let his annoyance fall, since the half elf had paid some coin to the fortress, and to the soldier’s fund separately.

“Bael, please keep this box with you at all times, and the blade within,” Jurot said, handing the azure scaled fellow the box. 

“It smells good.”

“It must remain within its box.”

“I can’t even play with it?”

“No.”

Bael groaned, but he nodded, tying the box to his back, glancing aside towards Taygak. “Must I keep an eye upon her too?”

“Taygak is more important.”

Bael huffed, but let the matter go, since Jurot was being so serious about it. 

Once Jurot was done with that, he made his way out with Bavin, heading to the bank to deal with the transaction, borrowing from the Iyr’s line of credit, which would be paid by the business once the Iyr received word. 

“You know…” Adam said once Jurot had returned and the group were within the quarters, playing dice and cards, drinking lightly in the evening. “It is kinda crazy he just let you take something worth five thousand gold without any guarantee.”

“It was guaranteed,” Jurot replied, pointing up to the tattoo on his forehead.

“Yeah, but… if you were pretending to be an Iyrman, how would he know?”

“Those who pretend to be Iyrmen are quickly found and dealt with,” Jurot said.

“In a similar manner to those who sell copies of such a fine blade are quickly found and dealt with,” Dunes whispered.

“What’s so special about that sword anyway?” Adam asked.

“Do you wish to check its enchantment?” Jurot asked.

“Am I allowed to?”

Jurot thought for a moment. “It is awkward to draw the blade and use it, but to check, it is fine…”

Adam could hear the slight uncertainty in Jurot’s words, but if Jurot said it was mostly fine, then it was mostly fine. The half elf held out his hand for the pearl and Jurot placed it within his palm, as the half elf then began to chant the words to his spell over the course of ten minutes, with Kitool informing the soldiers that Adam was praying, and that Mork would have liked to lead the prayer for the soldiers.

As Adam chanted the words to the spell, Tork eyed up the sheathed blade, having felt the excitement running through the air, certain he recognised the description of the blade from somewhere.

Spell: Identify

‘Holy!’ Adam thought. ‘We bought this for only five thousand?’

I really thought we were going to learn about it this chapter. Since it’s a mostly filler chapter, I’ll upload another one tomorrow to make up for it.