Irregular - Chapter 17

After they finished Jer’s memory the group sat down to discuss things, Jer as usual, led the discussion. “We have had a tough time connecting to each other because at least one of us was awake at any given time, mainly to keep watch while the others slept. I propose that we get together bi-monthly, and that one of us share our experiences at said get together.”

The others agreed with his proposal and said their goodbyes. Leaving the white room to renter their own dreams.

Three woke up the next day feeling refreshed, happy to know that his friends were doing well, due to their connection he was sure he would feel it should one of them die. It was still good to know they were doing well and had met pleasant people like he and Sumi had. Having confirmation that his friends were doing okay let him focus completely on the task of the day. Grimli had promised them he would find them a proper monster to fight for their promotion to level ten.

He put on his clothes and stretched his limbs, he woke up Sumi who was sleeping in the top bunk. She mumbled and tried to roll over back to sleep, he kept poking her until she woke up properly.

“Wssat who!” She suddenly sat upright, her blond hair in a frizzy mess. “Wash you wakin me up for.” She muttered.

“Breakfast.” Three said, “We get to reach level ten today.”

Hearing that, the energy swiftly returned to her body, her eyes glimmering as she grinned in anticipation. “Our first rank up!”

Three grinned and gave her a slight nod. “Our first rank up.”

She swung herself out of her bunk and started doing her hair. Three tossed her clothes over once she finished with her hair and they headed downstairs together. An excited Emmi was waiting for them, having made breakfast for the two of them in such a way they could eat while walking. She motioned them to follow, outside the house leaning against the wall basking in the morning air stood Talin and Davis. The two grinned and joined up.

“Mornin’!” Davis said.

“Good morning.” Talin added.

“Mornin!” Sumi answered. Emmi grinned, and Three bobbed his head in greeting.

They headed over to the adventurers guild where Grimli had told them to gather. On the way they were discussing what kind of monster Grimli had chosen. It was not standard tradition for adventurers to choose a monster for the lower ranks to breach the barrier. Grimli was the exception, saying that now that he had taken the group under his wing he would make damn sure they reached proper strength. Enough strength to down a barrel of ale in one go and beat a proper dwarf in a fist fight, that was the way he phrased it anyhow.

The villagers were slowly waking, a few of them setting up shops or heading over to whatever work they had to do, a lot of them greeted the group, the young adventurers born and raised in the relatively small village were well known and liked by most. They exchanged greetings, increasing their pace as they hurried to the adventurers guild. They entered through the wall to see Grimli standing along three other people in full gear, the group was waiting for them. One of them was a balding man, who Emmi told them was a priest. A male elf in robes was chatting in a relaxed manner with Grimli, the elf was bald of all things. The last of the group was a Halfling, a child born of an elf and a dwarf. He was short, slightly taller than a dwarf, but had the thin features of an elf, only to be put completely out of contrast by a most magnificent beard. Only Grimli managed to outdo the Halfling in a contest of beards.

Grimli walked forward with a grin, introducing the group to the rest of his adventurers team, the priest was called Orma, the elf Bob. When Grimli told them the elf’s name the group stared at him in disbelief,

Grimli chuckled, “I shit ya not, the bald bugger be called Bob!”

The elf smiled and bowed to them, “Greetings, A am Bob, resident mage of this particular party of idiots.”

The rest of the party chuckled at the introduction. The Halfling stepped forward and introduced himself with a wide grin on his face. “And I am Tinkman, last of the idiots.”

“So mr boss dwarf sir,” Sumi turned to them and showed the group a dazzling smile, “What be our victim of the day!”

The elf burst out laughing at the way she addressed Grimli, the Halfling chuckling and the priest was doing his best to keep his face tight.

Grimli ignored all of them and grinned at his favoured pupil, “Why, we gonna go kill ourselves a Jurgor!”

Emmi blinked in surprise, “Are you sure, aren’t those level twenty rated?”

Grimli chuckled enthusiastically, “That they are! Which is why we be comin, I think ya can handle it, but we be joinin just in case.”

Grimli lead the group out of the village and further towards the northern wilderness, Three asked Emmi about these Jurgors.

“They resemble bears in a way but their skin is all scales like a lizards, they have fur running in a stripe from the top of their head to the tip of their tail. The tail also resembles a lizard’s, its head is mostly the same as a bears, except its eyes are lizard like, its snout is slightly elongated actually i wonder why people say they resemble bears… They are easily more lizard than bear.”

“They don’t hibernate either, and instead of giving birth like bears they lay eggs, a single Jurgor can lay upto ten eggs. Thing is they don’t need to copulate to lay them.” Davis added.

“Copulate?” Three asked.

“Yea, you know, nother word for sex?”

Three blinked and tilted his head, “What is sex?”

Davis stumbled and stared at him, then scratched his chin.

He grinned, “Sex is a secret that unlocks when you are eighteen!”

The adventurers heard him and chuckled, Three took his words to heart however. Everyone noticed but no one really felt like explaining it to him.

The halfling took Talin with him to scout, teaching him a few tricks of the trade.

Sumi had fallen into conversation with the priest and the elven mage. Discussing the peculiarities of her body and the effects on her magic it had.

Emmi, Davis, Grimli and Three also had their own conversation, They were discussing which weapon was best, each of them had their own specialization and refused to admit that any other weapon was as good as the one they wielded. Three asked them about what was good about each of their weapons, he wielded a warhammer now because that was what Grimli had given him, he had no attachment to that particular weapon however. Before the discussion could evolve into a full blown argument, Talin and Tinkman returned.

“We found a Jurgor!” Tinkman grinned, “Wasn’t to hard, the creatures are a dime a dozen ’round here.”

Talin nodded in agreement.

Tinkman lead the way toward their target, Talin fell back with his team to discuss strategy and get prepared for the battle.

“Jurgors are big, and rather strong, despite their size they are faster than you would think.” Emmi looked at the others in turn. “Three will command its attention, then the rest of us will use the strongest abilities we have right from the start on its right front leg, we destroy it, burn it, cut it off or break it! That will severely hinder its mobility, so we can then take our time and kill it, agreed?”

The rest nodded as they came closer to the clearing, which the Jurgor had claimed as its own.

When they entered the clearing and the trees parted, they came face to face with a creature that was far more impressive than Three had expected it to be from their explanation. The scales on the nearly two meter tall creature were a snowy white, with patterns of black. The stripe of fur was a deep black, turning into thick looming eyebrows, over the snout that beared rows upon rows of teeth. The jurgor saw the group approaching and instead of the hiss he had been expected the creature roared.

Three shook away his doubt and charged the creature. the Jurgor maddened by the intrusion, charged him, its paws uprooting the grass beneath, claws digging into the dirt. Its jaws spread, showing Three close-up just how many teeth the creature possesed. The creature smashed into the shield Three had extended, the Jurgor being by far the heavier of the two slammed Three out of its way, knocking him to the ground. Three struggled to get back to his feet, his large shield getting in the way, the Jurgor pounced him, Three managed to get his shield up barely in time, its claws tearing at the hide covered wood. The shield splintering beneath its ferocity.

“Now!” He heard Emmi scream.

He heard her yell out other commands but his attention was completely on the the monster trying to claw him to shreds. Another paw slammed into the shield, a crack appearing in the piece of wood he was hiding behind. It stretched its paw back, with a massive swipe it obliterated the already weakened shield. The monster finally having a clear view on its opponent roared, snapping at him. Three could feel the blows from the rest of his team as they slammed into the creature, it roared in rage and opened its massive maw trying to crush Three’s head. He managed to get his arm between its jaws just in time, the raging Jurgor not caring if it was his head or arm, closed its jaws around his arm, its rows of teeth managing to pierce his skin with tremendous force, he felt his bones strain as they barely managed to resist being snapped in half.

An arrow streaked past, slamming into the creatures eye. It stood up on its hind paws, clawing at its eye in pain. Three took the oppurtunity to scramble away from the creature and retrieving the weapon he had lost in the collision. His arm had sustained heavy damage, he picked up the hammer in his other hand, roaring his own challenge at the creature.

The jurgor stared down at the people assualting him, Emmi and Davis were striking its paws with all the strength they possesed, Sumi was throwing out an entire firestorm of spells, the air sizzling from her power. Talin was shooting arrow after arrow at its face, trying to keep it distracted from the others. Three stood up, sending the familiar surge of energy into his muscles, He felt them expanding, growing, writhing underneath his skin, he felt himself grow, as he picked up large warhammer as if it weighed nothing, charging the creature to join his friends in combat.

Another arrow streaked past him as it slammed into the same eye Talin had pierced before, the creature shook, blood spurting from its eye as it sagged, slamming into the ground causing a minor tremor. Everyone glanced over at Talin, who was himself staring at his handywork in surprise.

He shrugged, “That was more luck than skill, I was aiming for itsother eye.”

The group chuckled as they sunk to the ground, that fight was tough. Three could feel his blood pumping, it had been a good, even if an eventually short fight.