Friends in a Foreign Land

“But you all have to behave or I’ll make you walk everywhere! No stupid shit,” Celeste warned her team.

“Yes ma’am,” Miguel answered. “We’ll behave.”

“Totally! Just a little trouble here and there to keep things interesting,” Liam added with a grin.

“Yeah,” chimed in Dakota. “We’ll be on our best behavior except for those times that we aren’t.”

“Oh lord,” replied Celeste as she dramatically tossed her head back with her the back of her hand on her forehead, “What will I do you with you boys?” Straightening back up she continued, “On a serious note, does anyone have any healing spells? We’ll probably need those.”

“I think I may have a healing spell,” Dakota cut in. “I think I remember Tisodi saying something about that. Hope I didn’t forget it already.”

“Is it in your spell list?” Celeste asked

“What spell list? I didn’t see any papers listing my spells in my pack.”

“Oh honey, no. On your status screen.”

“Shit, I didn’t even check that!” Liam said excitedly. “Dakota, just think [Status]”

“Woah. What the… it’s like a computer program or something.”

“Did you find the spells?” Celeste asked.

“Yeah,” Dakota said, “looks like I have a couple. [Daily Bread], [Jump], [Enlarge/Reduce], [Healing Wind], [Mark Prey], and thuma-lurgy thou-matrgy hell something I can’t pronounce.” He said with a laugh.

“Nice. Looks like I have some basic spells as well. [Clean], [Mending], [Purify], [Entangle], [Hold], and [Force Wave],” Miguel added. “What did you get, Liam?”

“[Magic Missile], [Sleep], [Slow Fall], [Extra Hand], [Weighted], and I got a mount spell named [Horse],” Liam answered. “But I’m sure that’s nothing compared to Celeste, right?”

“Actually, I only have four spells right now. They are low-level ones that I don’t need my spell book for: [Ghost Touch], [Arcane Bolt], [Multi-lights], and [Prestidigitation]. As I learn and get more spells in my spellbook though, watch out. Supposedly I’ll be able to top 100 spells quickly.” Celeste said with a smile.

“My baby is gonna be badass!” Miguel said with no small amount of pride. “What about you Wendell?”

“Not much yet, I have [Charm], [Command], [Psi Bolt] and [Message]. Supposedly as I train I’ll also get some that cause psychic pain and allow me to sway emotions.”

“None of those sound like that sword you showed us,” Liam observed.

“Oh, that’s not a spell. That’s one of my class skills.”

“What’s the difference?” asked Dakota.

Everyone looked around and shrugged.

“Guess we’ll have to ask a god next time we talk to them.” Liam stated.

The group lapsed into a companionable silence as they all looked through their menus trying to process it all. Suddenly Liam asked, “Miguel, why am I looking at your stats? And why is your race listed as hill dwarf?”

“It worked? Sweet! So we can share our screens with one another. Just think about what you want to share and who you want to share it with.” Miguel said all excited. “Don’t know about the hill dwarf thing. Just thought I was a dwarf.”

“Really?” Liam said, “Let’s test that.” A moment later, his stats appeared before the others.

“You’re a mountain dwarf. Is that why your agility is so low?” Dakota asked.

“Naa, I wanted my intelligence to be higher so I took a hit on agility and strength.” Liam replied, “Also, I just tried to share my stats with Arden and got an error saying he’s too far away, so there is a distance limit to this.”

“Good to know,” Celeste said. “Are you boys about done sitting here playing with yourselves and ready to check out this town with me?”

“Heck yeah. Always wanted to see an underground city!” Liam said as he hopped out of his chair.

“Motherfucker!” Dakota yelled as he walked up to Liam and Celeste. “Not only am I a dwarf, but she made me the shortest one here?”

“No buddy, Deandra is the shortest one here. For now,” Miguel said drawing a chuckle from Liam and Marc.

“Before we go, what all did the gods give us? Is there any money in our packs in case we want to go shopping?” Liam asked.

“Yeah, they gave us quite a bit of gold to get started,” Miguel said.

“I’m going to grab some of that to take with me then,” Liam said.

Five minutes later they were all standing in front of the Bloodbeard estate, their jaws dropped in awe of the surrounding city which was inside of a massive cavern that stretched a couple miles across in every direction. Looking up, they saw the cavern ceiling was easily three hundred feet above their heads.

“Wow,” was all Wendell could say.

“I thought it would be more cramped. This… this is amazing!” Celeste said with awe in her voice

“I thought it’d be darker,” said Dakota in a voice full of wonder.

“Tha lights help keep us on schedule,” a gravely yet feminine voice said.

The party turned to see a dwarven woman around three and half feet tall with red hair and chocolate eyes standing to the side, evidently waiting on them to stop blocking the gate to the estate.

“Apologies for blocking your way,” Liam said while stepping to the side. “Tell me, do the lights turn off at night? Or change colors?”

“Neither, they just dim ta about 10% of their daytime brightness. I’m Solra, by tha way. I assume ye're tha visitors Gito was expectin'?”

“Yes. I’m Celeste, this is my daughter Deandra and my husband Miguel,” Celeste said pointing to her family. “And these are our friends Liam, Wendell, and Dakota.”

“Oh, a human and a Duergar,” Solra said with a shock. She continued in a rush, “I'm sorry. I’ve never met anyone of either of yer races before. It's nice ta meet ye both!”

“Yeah, umm thanks” Dakota sputtered out.

"Nice to meet you, too," Wendell replied.

“I’ll leave ye ta yer business then,” Solra said as she continued toward the main house.

“Well, let’s get to exploring!” Liam said as he took off walking. “Anyone know which direction is north?”

Over the next five or so hours the group explored a large portion of the city and started to get familiar with some of the main streets near the Bloodbeard estate. They found an underground river that runs through part of the city and learned from a passerby that there was a waterfall upstream. They looked at all manner of items including arms and armor, clothing, construction supplies, groceries, and even home decor. Eventually, they made their way back to the Bloodbeard compound.

As they approached the estate Liam said, “Looks like the estate has 6 buildings. Most of the others we’ve seen have been about the same or smaller. I only saw three with more, I think.”

“What’s your point?” Dakota asked

“Just thinking our host isn’t doing bad for himself. Might not be the richest clan here, but they’re no slouches either. I’d like to find out what they do.”

“That’s a fair point. Gito didn’t volunteer anyone from his clan to teach us. All the instructors are from other clans.” Miguel said

“But he is giving us room and board, so let’s be appreciative.” Celeste was quick to add.

“Of course, of course. Just curious what the clan does since it wasn’t anything we’re being trained in.” Liam said as they reach the gate and enter the property.

“I didn’t see any churches anywhere,” Dakota noted in puzzlement.

The part all looked from one another as they thought back to what all they had seen that day and Dakota was correct. Nothing they saw appeared to venerate any of the gods.

As the party returned from their outing, a young man approached them. “Hello, my name is Branleen. I was just about to go looking for you as the evening meal is to be ready soon, and everyone is gathering. Please follow me.” Not waiting for any reply, Branleen turned and headed down a different corridor than they’d been before. A few twists and turns later and the group was walking into what could only be described as a dining hall. There were rows upon rows of tables, nearly all of them full.

“Ho-leeee shit” Dakota said as he looked around. “There’s gotta be a couple hundred people here.”

Branleen chuckles, “Nay sir, not quite. We currently have but around 170 souls living here.”

“Only?” Miguel questioned.

“Well, iffin they were all ours it’d be enough to make us tha second largest clan in the city, but about 40 of them are from other clans and are just here for training,” Branleen replied.

“Training in what?” Liam asked.

Branleen stopped and looked back at the party, confusion clear on his face. “Ye mean ye really don’t know? ” Seeing the blank expression in all of their eyes, he continued, “Clan Bloodbeard are tha finest berserkers, not just in Kan Ladur but in tha world. Because of this, if someone from another clan wants to be a berserker, they are often sent here for training. Some stay and become part of tha clan, but most return home, thus helping to ally us with tha other clans.”

Liam nodded his head and looked to his friends, “That answered my earlier question. None of us are training to be a berserker.”

“Surprisingly. Figured you would have chosen that path, Liam.” Miguel said

“If it was a game, hell yeah. But now that it’s real, I’d rather play it a bit safer.”

“Good,” said Celeste. “We all need to take this seriously. As magical,” she said with a grin, “as this all is, we can still die, and I’d hate to lose any of you.”

Branleen seemed even more confused by this conversation. “If you’ll continue following me, I’ll show you to your table.”

The group was led to the front of the dining hall and sat at a table with Gito himself.

“There they are! We were starting to worry something might have happened to ye.” Gito said upon seeing the group. “Did you enjoy your time out today? I hope so because it’ll be the last you’re likely to have for some time.”

“We did have a good day. Thank you for allowing us the time to adjust to things today.” Liam said, “But I am looking forward to starting training.”

“Glad to hear it since you’ll be starting tonight!” Gito said with a grin

“Tonight?” Celeste asked with concern.

“Yes, ma’am,” Gito said as he set several jugs on the table. “Tonight ye learn to drink like proper dwarves!”

Miguel chuckled, “This will be the easiest ‘A’ I’ve ever gotten.”

Gito didn't understand the joke but laughed along with the party. Food and drinks were served. The food was amazing, and everyone ate their fill. The ale wasn't bad, but it wasn't what they were used to. Miguel was already thinking about what it was missing.

The group excused themselves after dinner and found a quiet spot to speak with Arden’s and Regina’s groups. Once they finished their check-in, they returned to Gito’s table and drank late into the night with him. Gito was impressed with the group’s ability to consume ale at a prodigious rate and many jokes are made by both groups that the other didn't understand but everyone still laughed.

As they finally headed back to their rooms, Dakota spoke up. “Yo, do y’all think Arden’s and Regina’s groups are going to be okay?”

“Facing goblins and cultists on their first day sounds rough,” Miguel said. “But it sounded like they had it all under control."

“Sounds like we got the best starting location,” Liam said with a grin.

“The safest, at least.” chimed in Celeste