We Can Be Heroes ...?

3

Shion had never visited Stagreach before. The town sat only a few miles from her home, on the southern coast of Frenia, and it bustled with activity. Not the activity she had expected, such as lively shops and markets and wild and varied people, but with adventurers. So many adventurers and many of them appeared to be fighting battles among themselves.

Magic and swords and bows were in use, yet not a single bystander appeared to be hurt, only those that fought each other in their colourful clothing and glistening armour. As one man fell to the ground, the old, half-blind man stopped her from rushing to the warrior's aid and, within seconds, the warrior rose into the air, ghostly and indistinct. With the sound of trumpets, the warrior flashed and stood there as though he hadn't that moment taken a crushing blow to his head.

Shion could do nothing but marvel at the spectacles around her and she knew that somewhere, among these great men and women, she would find a sorcerer capable of freeing her father from his magical entrapment. The old man didn't appear to notice anything, as horses, and wolves and a myriad other creatures were summoned from some other-worldly location at the sound of a whistle, whereupon the adventurers would launch themselves into saddles and ride away, ignoring everyone around them.

At a tavern, the old man led her inside, where she found even more adventurers. Drinking, carousing, fighting once again, even picking pockets and all anyone did was to say they were criminals and return to whatever they were doing. It was a madness Shion had never experienced before and she wasn't so certain she wished to experience it now. The tumult and disarray confused and worried her, yet the old man walked through the tavern, long legs swinging as though he danced, toward the back, where two women sat.

They looked almost exactly the same as each other, save for different clothing and expressions upon their faces that could not be further apart. One scowled as though she were about to attack anyone and anything that spoke to her out of turn. The other gazed around her as though she saw everything for the first time, happy and oblivious to the chaos that raged within the tavern and the town.

"Alrigh' gels." The old man sat down, patting the seat beside him and urging Shion to join him. "'Ave I got a plan, or 'ave I got a plan?"

"Dave." The angry woman took a long, gulping drink from her mug and glared at Shion. "Why, and I want a simple explanation, do you have an NPC sitting at our table? In fact, how do you even have an NPC following you around at all?"

"Well, Mila, the's an explanation, bu' I don' know wha' tha' is." Somehow, from somewhere, a mug had appeared before the old man, 'Dave' as the woman named 'Mila' called him. He took a drink, wiping his mouth. "Wha' I do know is tha' this gel is offerin' a lot'a gol' for something or other and we need gol'. Simple enough."

"I think it was the Blackout." The other woman, who Shion assumed was the 'Jova' that Dave had mentioned, looked around in a dreamy fashion before turning to Shion and smiling. "Oh, aren't you lovely! Do you have a quest for us? I love quests!"

That twin, Jova, drummed her fingers on the table, which turned into a pattering of her hands, leading to a crescendo of hammering that set all the mugs on the table bouncing. She laughed, reaching over and poking Shion's cheek, as though checking that she was real and Shion had had quite enough of people not thinking her real.

A mug had appeared before Shion and she looked around to see the barmaid, or barman that had left it, but she could only see the constantly moving chaos of adventurers. In the corner, a bard sang to themselves, plucking the strings of their instrument, overlooked by everyone. Shion took a sip from the mug and smacked her lips. Cider. Not as nice as the cider she drank at home, but refreshing.

"I am seeking a great sorcerer in order to help my father." She turned her eyes from one to the other of those around the table. None of them seemed at all interested. "He has been ensorcelled and does nothing but speak the same words over and over. He does not eat, nor sleep. He does not appear ill, however, therefore I believe him ensorcelled and wish to break the spell."