Omen: 4, 5

  The group spent very little time i Port, as the month approached, they made their way out towards the north, esc Sir Landon and his two knights.

  Zeus, the mighty elk, pulled the cart along. Sir Landon sat upfront with Sir Vonda, his two knights fnking their sides. Lud Mara rexed in the back of the cart, alongside the food which Jurot and Sir Landon had brought for the journey.

  Jeremy and Remy carried a sack of wheat each within their wooden packs, wanting to work their muscles once more. The month had been the most they hadn’t worked, and it had made them more mohan they could have imagihey wondered how much money Adam had made, and had pegged it at arouhousand gold.

  ‘Man, I ’t believe I’m so rich,’ Adam thought. ‘I have so much XP too.’

  The Iyrmen, too, had made a pretty penny. They hadn’t bet quite as much as Adam, but they had made far more thahousand gold s the farmers and porters had made. Even Lud Mara had made a pretty penny for themselves, betting on the Iyrmen, and Adam.

  ‘I ’t wait to get bae,’ Adam thought, thinking about all those who were waiting for him. ‘I’m going to shower you all in gold!’

  Omen: 3, 19

  “Hmm?” Adam looked ahead towards the river, which was easily a hueps wide, and watched as a small portion of it rocks from one side to the as it sowards them. He had been w why their journey had been so safe retly, sidering they had faced so many creatures the first time they had e this way.

  “What is it?”

  “It is a waterwyrm,” Jurot expined.

  Adam exged a look with his brother, befng towards the river once more. They all were trekking on the road, but it wasn’t that far from the river. If they had been travelling by river, Adam wouldn’t be able to wear his armour for the risk of drowning.

  “Do you want to fight it?”

  “Yes,” Jurot said.

  “Will y me out if I fall into the river?”

  “I will,” Jurot said, before reag for the rope to tie it against Adam’s waist.

  ‘I could use my Omen, just in case.’

  Adam stepped up towards the waterwyrm as it rushed down the river towards them, Jurot and Lucy taking his side. He threw a look to Lucy, but she threw a look back that dared him to dehis fight.

  ‘Bell, please set it up so this one is for me, the trio, and the Demons.’ Adam had realised that the others were far too close to them right now, and he o make sure that Jurot and the others were stronger.

  [Okay.]

  Adam inhaled deeply as the rushing waterwyrm approached him. The river heaved to and fro before the waterwyrm shot out from the river, water droplets falling like rain across the trio. It was as rge as the giant pythons he had faced previously, easily twice Adam’s height, though much of it remained withier.

  “Hello there,” Adam called.

  Battle OrderD20 + 1 = 17 (16)

  Health: 78 -> 64

  Fighting Spirit: 3 -> 2Health: 64 -> 69

  Attack - WraithD20 + 10 = 12 (2)D20 + 10 = 17 (7)Hit!Mana: 21 -> 20Ability: Divine SmiteWraith: 3 -> 22D6 + 2D6 + 2d6 + 9 = 27 (3, 5)(2, 3)(1, 4)27 damage!

  Attack - WraithD20 + 10 = 14 (4)D20 + 10 = 25 (15)Hit!Mana: 20 -> 19Ability: Divine SmiteWraith: 2 -> 12D6 + 2D6 + 2d6 + 9 = 26 (1, 2)(2, 4)(4, 4)26 damage!

  Onward Soar: 1 -> 0

  Attack - WraithD20 + 10 = 15 (5)D20 + 10 = 25 (15)Hit!Mana: 18 -> 18Ability: Divine SmiteWraith: 1 -> 02D6 + 2D6 + 2d6 + 9 = 21 (1, 2)(1, 3)(1, 4)21 damage!

  Attack - WraithD20 + 10 = 23 (13)D20 + 10 = 24 (14)Hit!Mana: 18 -> 17Ability: Divine Smite2D6 + 2d6 + 9 = 25 (2, 2)(6, 6)25 damage!

  The waterwyrm hissed out water towards them, before water bsted the trio, with such force that Adam ushed back as his shield was bsted. Jurot and Lucy fell inte, and though the water cut them like a bde, their skin was like steel. They leapt up to strike the creature with their axes, ready and eager fhter.

  Adam quickly stepped forward as the earth under him became more like mud, before also leaping through the creature, fog as the pair before him cut into its water body, before he smmed into it, grabbing around it, the water almost like jelly, hag it wildly with his axe. He struck it as many times as he could, using whatever strength he could muster, before the snake like body of water fell, with Adam dropping into the river with it.

  He inhaled deeply, his heart pounded wildly, but before he could fall into the water, he was tugged backwards by the two sets of rope tied to him. One ulled by Nobby and Rick, the other ulled by Remy and Jeremy.

  Adam slid backwards, and once he was a few steps clear of the river, he twisted his body and righted himself, carefully stomping towards the group, before casting his Tricks trick to his armour. Jurot and Lucy, who had fallen into the water, swam back out.

  Victory!WaterwyrmXP Gained: +500XP: 13 000 -> 13 500

  “Thank you,” Adam said to the four, nodding his head at them. “Not the most graceful kill, but it’ll do.” He then looked to Vonda. ‘Oh. Oops.’

  “It is fine,” Vonda said. “Waterwyrms are a terrible danger i Aldnd.”

  “Phew.”

  “Adam,” Jurot called from behind, revealing a jelly like substance which was squirming around his hand. “Living water.”

  “Nice!” Adam replied, smiling. He was sure he for something, though couldn’t quite remember what. “Is that a core?”

  “Yes.” Jurot held up the core in his other hand. It was almost clear, and slightly rger thaher cores the group had mao gather.

  “Nice.” Adam gnced around at the others, before recalling they were still meant to split everything. ‘Oh, damn it.’ “We’ll, uh, sort out the loot aime.”

  The bourers just nodded, not because they feared the trio who had taken out a waterwyrm near instantly, but because they were a thousand gold richer, which was more than they would have made with anyone else.

  “Careful,” Lucy called out, staring out towards the river. A ship approached the group from the horizon. It was bck, and as it approached, they could spot five people.

  Adam squinted his eyes. The bck of the ship seemed a little off.

  The ship veered away from them towards the other side of the river, before it turowards them, flying out of the river. The ship turned into cloth, and spun around one of the five figures like a cloak, before the five nded between Fate’s Golden and the river.

  Jurot, Kitool, and Jaygak each stepped forward, around Adam, while the teen Iyrmen stepped behind them, eyeing up the five strangers who had appeared. The two knights, seeing the way the Iyrmen acted, reached for their bdes, but did not draw them.

  The five strangers wore cloaks of bck, which covered them from head to toe, hiding their faces in shadow. None seemed to be well armed, though each carried a dagger at their side. One removed her hood, revealing an older woman with a heavily tattooed forehead. Her hair was grey, but her eyes were a deep bck, like the depths of the o.

  “Greetings,” the old woman said, almost in a whisper. “ologise for the interruption, but have you seen a waterwyrm?”

  “Yeah, we killed it,” Adam replied, holding Strong Shield to his side, still strapped to his arm.

  “We gratute you, great warriors,” the old woman said, with the slightest hint of sarcasm, her eyes falling to the Iyrmen. “It is a little awkward for us, since we have need of the living water.”

  “Unfortunately, we he…” Adam turo Jurot, furrowing his brow. “Do we he living water?”

  “It is useful for enting.”

  “Hmm.” Adam slowly nodded his head. “What do you for?”

  “Our rade is dying,” the old woman replied. “We for her health.”

  “Well, if you say it like that, I ’t exactly refuse so easily.” Adam tio eye up the group, but some of his thoughts were on why the Iyrmen had stepped out. “What will you trade for it?”

  “What would you like, young man?”

  “What is your rade’s life worth?” Adam joked.

  “A dark question.”

  “Take it in good humour,” Adam replied, meeting the woman’s eyes once more. “I’m known for my terrible jokes.”

  “Is it a Bck Rat?” Jurot asked.

  “Yes,” the old woman replied.

  “A Bck Rat?” Adam raised his brow towards his brother.

  “They are a cult.” Jurot’s eyes remained focused on the group, but his eyes were staring past the old woman, towards the figure behind her.

  The woman smiled at the words, but said nothing. She, as they all did, knew of the Iyrmen’s thoughts on their group.

  “So, what are you going to trade?”

  “What do you wish for?”

  “I want my children to groy ahy,” Adam replied, hearing Lucy’s groan from nearby.

  “We will be able to provide such a living,” the old woman firmed.

  “Better than the Iyr?”

  The old woman’s eyes fell to Adam’s armour, and then to his eyes through the slits of his visor. Adam, who hadn’t taken off his helmet, a wore armour made of puthral?

  “What is your e to the Iyr? Are you a Nephew?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then there is much less we offer,” the old woman admitted, no longer smiling.

  The figure behiepped forward, undoing his hood to reveal his face. He was as old as the woman, roughly in his fifties, with the same tattoos on his forehead, though the tattoos fell down to his cheeks too.

  “I, too, wish for my granddaughter to grow up happy ahy, young man,” the stranger said. His eyes, like two pits into the void, stared deep into Adam’s eyes.

  “The name’s Adam.”

  “I would owe you a great favour, Adam.”

  Adam inhaled deeply. He could feel it in the air. The tension. Whoever these people were, they weren’t easy to deal with. “What do you think? Are they trustworthy?”

  “The Bck Rats are a cult who prove troublesome for Drakkenn,” Jurot expined, before pausing. “Their word is golden.”

  “Then I’ll trust that you repay this favour one day,” Adam said, before nodding his head.

  Jurot stepped forward, handing the living water to the Bck Rat, before stepped back to Adam’s side once more. The Bck Rats gnced between the group, taking in the sight of the Demons, the Iyrmen, the nobles, and the bourers. They eyed up Nobby especially.

  “We will repay this favour to you one day,” the Bck Rat stated once more, before the group bowed their heads, and slipped away onto their ship made of bck cloth, heading further down to East Port.

  “So, who the hell are they?” Adam asked.

  “An a cult,” Jurot replied, simply.

  “Are they strong?”

  “Yes.”

  “How strong was the old guy?”

  “A Paragon.”

  “Yeah?”

  “They both were.”

  “Both of them? The old woman too?”

  “Yes.”

  Adam whistled. “Gd we didn’t start a fight with them then. I had a crit in my back pocket, but I didn’t have any more Wraith charges.” Adam looked out towards the disappearing ship he horizon. “So, what kind of favour I request?”

  “You assisted the one known as Elder Rat. It will be no small favour.”

  “It feels a bit weird si’s meant to be shared between us all,” Adam admitted. “At least we have the core.”

  ‘Elder Rat?’ Sir Landon thought, looking out to the group. ‘…’ He looked to Adam, w how he didn’t know about the Bck Rats, nor to the significe of the favour he had earned. Adam was a creature he still didn’t quite uand.

  ‘Should I make a py for the title of Baron?’

  It's been a while sihe Bck Rats were st mentioned.

  I'm sure that favour will never e up again...