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Adventures of Joric Ironfist

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"Ambushed." The dwarf answered. "Didn't even give you a heads up ." He said, when Gabriel started rubbing his head in pain.

Gabriel grimaced at the terrible pun. "You saved me, then?" He asked. "...Thanks." Then a thought struck him. "Where are my things?"

The dwarf waved a hand at the slaughter around him. His bow lay next to a goblin's corpse, covered in the blood that pooled from the beast's head injury. His quiver lay on the ground, discarded and half empty, the rest of the arrows on the ground by a tree. The bag was a few feet away, and was wide open, a few of its possessions having been removed and left carelessly on the ground.

He quickly went around collecting the all, cleaning off his bow (particularly the string), returning the arrows to the quiver, and dumping his discarded possessions back into his bag.

"So what are you doing out here, and who are you?" Gabriel then asked the stranger.

"Joric Ironfist." The dwarf introduced himself proudly with a slight bow. "Looking for you."

"Wha- why?"

"Few days ago you stumbled onto a cave with flashing lights. Can you lead me to it?"

"Wait, you mean the cave I..." Gabriel began, before a look of fear passed over his face. "Wait, no! I'm not going near that cave! It could be cursed, or home to witches, or..."

"Which is why I need to find it." Joric had said, interrupting him. "I just need to know where it is."

"Alright..." Gabriel said reluctantly. "But I'm not setting foot inside that damned place!"

-----

"Is that it?" Joric asked, looking at a fairly normal, unassuming cave entrance in the side of a hill with a small pond nearby. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:05:41 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 02:34:37 by NotFishing

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It had taken thirty minutes to reach the cave. Having been hit in the head and knocked out, Gabriel had required some time to get his bearings.

"Yeah..." Gabriel answered, his eyes wide.

The man must have a deep-seated fear of magic, Joric reasoned, to be so afraid. Though it was not unheard of for commoners to distrust magic the hunter was more afraid than normal. Perhaps he had a traumatic experience with a mage?

"It's not lit up now... but it was when I saw it the other day. I swear!"

"Wait here. I'll go clear it out." Joric assured him, hoping that this actually was where the supposed kidnappers were hiding and not just some man's wild stories.

The dwarf had only taken one step towards the cave when the hunter began to protest. "But I-"

"You could say I have a dark path ahead." Joric began, gesturing towards the cave. "My humor may fail to lighten it up. But you just need to stay here. I'll deal with it."

And then he continued onward, not listening to any further complaints or protests. Gabriel could only watch as Joric entered the cave he was so deeply afraid of.

-----

The cave wasn't really that dark, Joric had realized. Probably because the sun was behind him, shining through the entrance. But as he went further in, the tunnel began to turn, and eventually the sun was blocked out and the dwarf entered pitch blackness.

It didn't matter though. He was a dwarf. Dwarfs were born in caves. He was in his element. In fact, most cave-born dwarfs had an easier time seeing in the dark than humans.

Then the dwarf turned another corner, and suddenly he was at the end of the cave. It was a chamber of sorts - the ceiling about nine to ten feet high and the area significantly larger than even the widest point of the tunnel so far.

That wasn't the most unusual part though. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:06:16 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 04:48:13 by NotFishing

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There were torches on the wall. And in the center of the room, a pentagram had been drawn on the floor in red chalk, lit candles on each of the five points. In the middle was silver bowl. Five men stood around the circle, wearing hooded black robes. They had their gaze set on the bowl and were chanting in some strange language. Cultists?

There was no doubt about it: Joric had stumbled onto some sort of demonic ritual.

The girl he was supposed to rescue was lying against a wall, her throat cut.

The cultists finished their chanting, and one of them, the leader, stepped forward and began to add ingredients to the bowl.

"No!" Joric shouted and charged. The cultists looked up in surprise, and their leader immediately threw a fireball at the intruder.

Joric brought his magic-proof shield up, blocking the spell with ease. He drew his axe and cut the first cultist down. The leader continued the ritual, sprinkling some sort of yellow powder into the bowl. The three other cultists drew daggers and shortswords and attempted to surround the dwarf, hoping to at the very least distract him.

These men were not skilled fighters, Joric realized. One cultist was gripping his dagger too tightly. Another cultist, one who wielded a shortsword, had an uncertain look on his face.

The cult leader dropped some kind of purple flower into the bowl.

The cultist with the shortsword attacked first. Joric brought his shield up to deflect the blow, before burying his axe into the man's side. "Sorry to interrupt your friendship circle!" Joric said, his voice filled with insincerity. Another cultist attempted to attack him as he pulled his axe out of the sword-wielder, but the dagger merely glanced off his shoulder guard and barely left a scratch on the metal.

The cult leader dropped the finger of the some beast into the bowl. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:06:29 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 04:49:41 by NotFishing

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Joric spun around and sliced the man's stomach open, before once again turning around to block the third cultist's knife thrust.

He kicked the man in the knee and buried his axe into his neck, before roughly yanking it out and charging the cult leader, who had just emptied a vial of the young woman's blood into the bowl. As he charged, Joric's foot brushed against the edge of the chalk pentagram, rubbing maybe a centimeter of it away. Neither Joric nor the cult leader were aware of this, and the cult leader's hand set alight to prepare another fire spell. Joric raised his shield.

The spell wasn't for Joric.

The cult leader cast the spell downwards, into the bowl. The contents set fire, and a pillar of purple flame shot up. Both Joric and the cult leader were sent backwards and onto their backs by the force of the blast. The cult leader's robes were ablaze, and he flailed around the ground as he slowly burned to death. Joric was mostly unharmed, his shield having protected him from the worst of it.

The pillar of flame continued to shoot upwards, scorching the ceiling and filling the room with thick black smoke. Joric descended into a coughing fit and he dropped his weapon and shield and fell to his knees. The smoke stung his eyes, forcing him to close them, and even when he tried to open them the smoke was too thick to see through. He felt like he was dying, and all he could hear was the sound of the fire.

Then the smoke cleared away, as quickly as it had spread, and Joric could both see and breathe again. He coughed for several more moments, and then finally he had recovered enough to grab his axe and shield and stand up.

And standing before him was an eight foot tall demon, with dark red skin, razor sharp teeth and claws, glowing green eyes, pure white horns, and a pair of leather wings. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:06:58 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 03:30:48 by NotFishing

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"You dare to summon me, mortal!? " The demon growled in a deep voice that sounded... well, demonic. "And imprison me, no less!?" It looked down at the pentagram with an expression of disgust, and easily stepped over the imperfection Joric had accidentally created.

"Fighting you is going to be a tall order." Joric remarked, referencing the demon's vastly superior height. The cult leader's agonizing screams came to a stop as he finally died.

The demon roared and swung his fist downwards, hoping to crush the puny dwarf that dared to oppose him!

Joric sidestepped and then swung his axe into the demon's wrist. It went about halfway through, going into the bone. The wound oozed black blood. The demon yelled out in pain and then swung his arm out, sending the dwarf flying across the room. Joric hit the wall, his armor clanging as it made impact on the hard stone, and he fell to the ground, letting go of his weapon. The demon smiled, victorious.

Or was he?

Joric's finger twitched. And then his hand closed around the axe, and he stood up. He would not be beaten so easily. His name may have been Ironfist, but he had a will like steel.

"You should have stayed down." The demon snarled, and then began to hurl a barrage of fireballs at Joric using his non-wounded hand.

Joric instinctively brought his shield up. Even though the enchantment held strong, the force of each blast threatened to knock the dwarf off his feet. But he took each blast. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. "Talk about a heated exchange!" The dwarf taunted.

The demon growled in frustration. The two stared each other down, each one silently daring the other to make the next move. The demon was twice Joric's height, but had no armor and no weapon, save for its claws and unbelievable strength. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:07:23 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 05:09:12 by NotFishing

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Then Joric charged.

The demon immediately swung a fist out to meet his charge, but he was so used to swinging at taller foes he went a bit too high, making it very easy for Joric to duck underneath. Then Joric dove forward and threw himself to the ground, nicking the demon's ankle as he landed and slid right underneath the monster. Although the cut was neither as deep nor effective as he had hoped.

And this time the demon made no growl or yell or pain or anger. Instead he simply turned around. Joric scrambled to get up but he was not fast enough. The demon's hand closed around the dwarf's helmet and lifted-

"Agh!" The dwarf's helmet spike had impaled the demon's hand, and he quickly let him go after the dwarf had only been lifted maybe a foot off the ground.

Joric wasted no time and once again charged forward. He swung his axe at the demon's shin, the blade going in maybe a quarter of the way, but he had difficulty pulling it out and ended up letting go. No matter - he still had a sword. The dwarf ducked under the demon's legs as he cried out. Joric was about to turn around and make a remark about a shindig , when the demon swung his leg backwards (the same one Joric had buried his axe into) and hit Joric with the back of his foot.

Joric was launched forward and sprawled out onto the ground face first. He immediately rolled onto his back just to see the demon limping over, another fireball in hand, ready to finish him off. Once again he instinctively raised his shield...

...Only to realize he had let go of it by accident when the demon kicked him.

It was unlikely he would get out of this one. But the dwarf hero wasn't concerned about his own life so much as he was concerned about the village. If this demon got free, no doubt that would be his first target. But all he could do was close his eyes and wait for the inevitable. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:07:49 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 04:59:48 by NotFishing

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Suddenly, an arrow embedded itself into the demon's shoulder!

The demon winced, and turned to face his new attacker. It was none other than Gabriel himself, with a terrified expression on his face. He made no move to ready another arrow, and the demon hurled the fireball at him instead. The poor hunter was too scared to move, and he was engulfed in flame, his screams not unlike the cult leader from only a few minutes before.

But during this distraction, Joric had stood back up. He drew his sword and shoved it through the back of the demon's knee with all of his strength, pushing it out the other end along with the monster's own knee cap! The demon shrieked and fell to his knees (which drove the axe in the demon's shin even deeper in) as Joric brutally yanked it out. "You don't have a leg to stand on!" He yelled, although his tone only had anger. Then, he drove his now-black-blood-coated sword straight through the demon's lower back!

The demon screamed again. Joric ripped his sword out and the monster fell forward, hitting the cave face first with a thud! Then the demon crumbled to ash, the black blood on Joric's sword and helmet spike fading away. And the cave was quiet.

Or at least it would have been, had Gabriel not been screaming.

Joric immediately ran towards him, as he rolled across the ground. But it was no use - even if he could somehow extinguish the flames the burns would surely kill him. The hunter went quiet and stopped moving, but his body continued to burn. He was gone.

There was no joke that would fit the situation. None would be appropriate.

He had failed to save the girl. He had failed to stop the summoning. Gabriel had died saving his life. The dwarf fell to his knees. Despite his victory, this was the most defeated Joric had ever felt since-

No, it would do him no good to think of home. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:08:50 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 05:07:20 by NotFishing

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But the thoughts came anyway, and this time he couldn't suppress them or make some joke to distract himself.

There, alone in that cave with no one to witness, the dwarven hero wept for everything he had lost.

-----

An hour later, Joric sat in the tavern, drinking from a tankard of ale, still sore from his 'victory'. The bartender stood on the other end of the counter, cleaning a glass. "That's... quite a story." The bartender had said, his eyes slightly wide in surprise and his expression betraying just a little bit of sadness.

Joric nodded, and took another sip.

Then the door burst open, and in stepped the father who had set him on this task in the first place. "You're back!" He said with excitement. "My daughter, is she-"

But then he realized his daughter was nowhere in sight. It only took him a few seconds to put two and two together, and then he was quiet for at least a minute. Tears formed in his eyes. "I see..." He finally said. And then he walked out the door. "Damn dwarfs..." He muttered under his breath.

Then the inn was quiet. Patrons exchanged uneasy glances. Finally, the bartender broke the silence.

"You may think you failed." He finally said. "And in a way, you did. But you killed that demon. And I don't even want to think what that monster would have done to our town. You saved lives." Then, he reached into his pocket and and placed some coins on the table, and slid them over to Joric. "That's the money you spent on your room. It's free. So is the ale."

Joric nodded, and accepted the money, not saying a word.

That night, Joric would collapse into bed. He would be plagued with nightmares about the cave-in. But in the morning he would wake up. He would go back to his cheerful, joking front, and resume his travels.

His first task of the day would be to leave town before the mayor could throw a damn celebration. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

30-Sep-2015 21:09:05 - Last edited on 24-Oct-2015 05:12:57 by NotFishing

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