“What did you want to see us for?” Aldeir asked the fellow adventurer sitting across from him, his wife, Carrera and teammate, Darion, elsewhere at the moment while he came to this meeting he was asked to attend by a fellow adventurer group his party had done work with a few times in the past before.
“Well, first off, thanks for coming, I appreciate it.” The human man sitting opposite said with a smile, like showing up was a huge favour somehow. The man wore minimal armour, which had brown and dark green colours, like some kind of fighter and by his side an above average looking sword. His hair was short and light hazelnut brown with light blue eyes. His face was had the kind of smile that he stumbled upon something big, something like a method to getting rich quickly.
“Anyway, moving on, me and my party, Greywood, have probably made the biggest discovery on a dungeon since.” He said with a dumb grin and an expression that was practically saying it was too good to be true. Aldeir could only raise an eyebrow at his words and expression. “So, here’s the story; my party and a few others are going to do this…unofficial dungeon.”
He said ‘Unofficial’ lightly, like how someone says it when they’re acknowledging something is bad without actively saying it. The truth was simple, invasions of ‘unofficial’ dungeons was highly illegal in all nations, an absolute law that was shared between them all similarly to something like theft or murder. Punishments for committing this could vary, at best a fine or revoking of adventuring licence to spending time in prison.
“But that part isn’t the important thing, what IS the important thing is the place is and the valuables.” He said as his grin widened again, like some overexcited teacher who didn’t know a thing of what they were talking about. “It’s this castle, basically in the middle of nowhere. Better yet? We described it to some scholar in the Solmara Theocracy. Guess what? It likely dates back thousands of years! Like, before the Dark Age Wars ancient, and you know what that means?”
He paused, looking at the woodland elf expectantly. “What does that mean?” He asked, already knowing the answer while not fully wanting to say it. He wasn’t sharing the same amount of enthusiasm about the topic as the guy opposite him.
“Riches, money, jewels, artifacts…like, enough money to make nobles jealous!” He practically shouted, leaning back in his seat while looking directly at Aldeir. It wasn’t exactly an intelligent idea to be speaking this loudly in a Tavern about something like this with who knows just a few feet away. “And I’m offering you and your party…the opportunity to join us on this quest.”
“Garrak…I appreciate the offer, but I can’t do that.” He said, making dead eye contact with him, his face dead serious. “And for your own sake, I suggest you and all the others going with you don’t either.”
That last statement seemed to irritate the human, Garrak, slightly as he leaned in again. “Really? Why? You going to snitch on me if I do?” He asked, his expression almost hostile. His wide smile completely gone, replaced by a face that looked like a dog who was protecting a bone it had become fond over.
“No, what I’m trying to do is make sure you don’t get your adventuring license revoked. Let’s also not forget what would happen if this place were in fact as old as you’re making it out to be…or do I need to explain the very long list of ways how that makes this even worse?”
“Oh, come on, it’s just some old castle in the middle of nowhere! I mean, it probably belonged to some old guy who wanted to live alone and died, what’s the problem?” He asked, as if his logic was superior by default somehow and his fellow adventurers’ was just superstition.
“The problem is that it’s unofficial, it’s older than almost every kingdom, based on what you claimed and with who knows what’s in it…you can probably see why I’m a little suspicious. Look, if you and…these other groups want to do it then be my guest, but I’m my party? We’ll be just fine, thank you.”
Garrak sighed heavily, his angry face relaxing into one of disappointment, like a parent trying to teach it’s child to do basic maths to only fail miserably. “Fine…fine, if you don’t want to then go ahead, but don’t blame me if I get all rich and get to retire early while you have to continue working.”
“Right, right…” Aldeir responded, crossing his arms and leaning forward in his seat, wanting to be anywhere but here. He was still on edge after all this time with that incident in those woods, and going into a random, only possibly abandoned castle in the middle of nowhere wasn’t something he was particularly interested in.
“So uhm…if you and these other parties are going to go, just…be careful, you know? I know I can’t convince you to not go and all but I’d still like it if you at least came back alive with nothing than die senselessly…from one childhood friend to another.” He said, still calm but also genuinely.
“Yeah…I had better go, gotta prepare and all.” He said, leaving before either could properly say goodbye to one another.
Both adventurers ignorant this would be the last time they would ever see one another.