User blog:Ochiverde/The Story/The Beginning

The Story

Inside the Brightoak forest was located an average town, well, it would've been averaged, if not for its fabled bars, and large population of adventurers (cause starting towns always have those, don't they?). But one of these bars had something special to it, The Arcane Bar, even with the multitude of bars in the city, this one was well-known for the adventurers inside it, young, old, veterans, newbies, they all gathered there to tell their experiences, and so, it became a tradition for most travelers to tell their story there, some of romance, some of horror, some of triumph and glory. This night in particular, the bar was quite active: shouts, laughs and whistles were all one could hear from the outside. Our story starts here, with the entrance of a green leather-clad figure...

The man was looked like he was still pretty good off, even though his white beard indicated that he was well past his prime. A green cloak over his head, hiding his visage, though, despite his age, some other features from a time past still remained, his body's build for example, lithe, yet muscular where it needed to be, tan. His arms and hands, callous, with scars from place to place, revealing his experience. His stride, while staggered, showing signs of a limp leg, was still full of certainty.

As he entered the bar, everyone went silent, he walked forward, and took the last free seat, right in front of the barkeeper, and got the usual, a mug full of apple cider, guzzling it down in one go before putting the silvers on the counter for the taking. As he put the mug down, everyone got back to their own business. Everyone, but for a young adventurer, and his 'admirers', two quite... voluptuous women. The man didn't seem to notice that the two 'ladies' weren't paying attention to him anymore, until he heard them giggle, while looking at the older man. And thus, he decided to win their attention back, in a quite unorthodox way.

The youngster stood up, and started to approach, with a smug look on his face. Once he got next to him, the youngling asked "What was the fuss all about? What is so interesting about this fossil?" Once he finished, the bar residents looked at him with a face that said 'He's gonna get it'. The youngster gulped, as the veteran stood up, a head taller than the youngling. He picked him  up by the collar, went towards the exit, and threw him out like a rag doll. "Appearances can be deceiving, one of The Adventurer's rules."

Afterwords, the young man got up, and walked back into the bar, only to find the old man back into his seat, his 'admirers' now at his sides, the elder didn't pay any attention to them though. Upon seeing this, the youngster's rage started to bubble up, as he spoke without thinking "That's all you got grandpa? Who do you think you are? An adventurer? Don't make me laugh, I bet you wouldn't be able to defeat a mere Devil Bu-" He was cut off by a dagger flying right past his head, mere inches from his ear. "Think before you speak or act for that matter, another rule that might save your skin later." The man said, before downing a second drink. "Moving on from this...Everyone! The drinks are on me tonight comrades!" He shouted, dropping a pouch full of gold, while the bar was shouting in glee, raining their mugs, hats and even weapons.

A while later, after calming down and accepting that he stood no chance against the elderly man, he approached him yet again, hoping to not leave hard feelings for his actions. "Look sir, erm, I'm sorry for my actions, I didn't me-". He was cut off yet again by him "You meant it, but that's just you, or were, but right now, it doesn't matter, what matters is what your actions will be in the future." There was silence before the man spoke "Are you really not mad?" After he said that, the veteran threw his head back, and let out a throaty laughter. Once he stopped, he looked back at the young man, this time without his hood on. His face was and example of his career: Deep blue eyes, white hair, with streaks of green in it, most likely acquired with a dye, but the most noticeable were his scars, small cuts, long gashes adorned his features, some white and barely noticeable, and some ridges left by battles long past. The most prominent one was starting at his lower jaw, went over his cheek, his nose, almost hitting his eye, and ending at the base of his hairline. That might have been the reason why he wore his cloak. After he realized it fell of his head, he quickly pulled it back up.

The youngster looked bewildered upon seeing that, sure he expected some scars, but that showed what the old man went through over his years. Upon seeing his interest, the veteran asked, with a twinkle in his eyes "Wanna hear how I got 'em? Might give you some tips how to not get 'em if you do. It's a long story though, well, actually, there are a lot of stories." Others adventurers began to perked up, and said "We got time, so go ahead, Raul." "Well, if it's like that, I guess I have no choice, Barkeep, fill me up another one, I have some tales to tell." He said, downing his third drink shortly after.

"So, like you all know, the creatures of this world aren't known for killing, like in the old times, though, they are still beasts of the darkness... while some may be nice, you need to always keep one eye open when around them. As the years went by, I started to examine them, to find out their weaknesses, strengths preferences, by fighting them, beating them, even spending night of passion with them- at that remark, some of the female adventurers blushed and sometimes throwing a stick while running away from them, that apparently worked with some. Moving on from my ranting, my travels began similar to most, even identical, after all, we all started there, didn't we?..."

And so, The Story truly began.