Heroes of Aurora: The Druken Bear

Cold. Cold is all I could remember about that moment. I was shivering and I didn’t have the slightest clue why. Wrapped in a fur shawl, and bundled up in woolen suit, my eyes stayed fixated on the campfire, staring into the embers. I stared into the campfire, remembering life before this grand endeavor. I then felt something tapping my shoulder. My Dwarven friend, Morden. Such a good lad to have around in times like this. We met on an expedition to what is now known as Grightland and have been friends ever since then. I trusted him with my life and we looked after each other like family. I looked at him and smiled. He was mouthing something, but I couldn’t make it out. His beard made it hard to understand. “Septimus…Septimus…”

“Oi! Septimus! Ya all right their lad?” I shook my head as I looked around. We were in a tavern from what it looked like. It smelled of sweet honey and fresh barley. The place was filled tonight as we both sat at the bar. Anyone and anything would be here. Orcs, Elves of all kind, Dwarves, Goblins, Gnomes…you name it. The tavern itself wasn’t majestic or fancy being made of smooth dark wood, but was big enough to fit two ancient dragons, so the legend goes. Across the building were lanterns that lit it up quite nicely. The lanterns weren’t strong enough to light up the place like the sun, but didn’t dim it enough to see like just another shady bar. It was…bloody perfect.

“Yea….im good.” I shook my head as my eyes trailed off, my gaze going from the mug in my hands and back to Morden. My voice sounded rough, with a kind of dark smoothness too it, like that of a polished dark leather sheath. I took a long sip from my mug and gave halfhearted sigh. “We almost died out there Morden…” I set the mug down on the bar as my hand fingered the pommel and hilt of my sheathed sword. “Lightseeker, my father called it…and it was kept in the depths of the fuckin abyss…” I then took my hand off the sword pommel, took the mug in my hand, and chugged the rest of the bittersweet brew down, slamming the mug onto the bar top.

This caught the attention of the rather cute barkeeper. She glared at me with her red eyes, almost as bright and shiny as rubies. I eyed her familiar form up an down. She wore dark blue long sleeve shirt, with white sleeves that looked loose and were made of silk. Her matching brown leather pants clung to her hour glass figure. She looked toned and strong but was also gifted in all the right places, her large cleavage stretching out of her shirt. It looked as if they might fall out or rip the seams at some point, but no matter what happened, they never did. A small bit of her short blue hair was tied back into a small ponytail while the rest of it covered a small part of the other half of her face. She also had a pair of magenta framed spectacles sitting on the bridge of her nose. A hand full of small dark spots, probably freckles, covered some of parts of her and arching the brim of her nose, meeting in the middle. She watched me as i eyed her up and down and met back up with her beautiful eyes. I couldn't help but give a charming grin, and wink at her. An embarrassed red blush started forming on her smooth, white furred cheeks as she grinned back at me. I then looked to Morden. “I shouldn’t have brought you with me my friend…I shouldn’t have risked your life…”

I heard him chuckle. I looked back at the short, burly dwarf. He wore a sleeveless white shirt that had dried ale stains, on it. His large toned arms glowed dimly in the tavern lighting. He had a long brown beard that covered most of his face, and shorter, similarly covered hair, both thick and bushy. He wore Padded leather trousers and dark leather boots. On his hands he wore padded gloves, and resting on his head were a pair of goggles. He as well as his clothes looked to be covered in soot or ash. He must have recently gotten off of his second job as the guild's blacksmith.

He continued to chuckle as he stood up. “And what makes you think me, Morden Ironcrest, was going to die out there? Me and you have been through tougher scraps than that shit. A wee bit of campin' and a short expedition ain’t gonna turn us into corpses laddie!” He chuckled as he too chugged down his drink, laughing after setting it lightly down on the table. He leaned in close “You and me lad? We’re a forced ta be reckoned with aye?” He asked rhetorically as he slapped me on the shoulder, leaning back on his stool, and chuckled some more. I smiled my spirits starting to lift from my dwarven friends jovial attitude.

I start to chuckle along with him, my mood drastically changing. “Of course, what was I thinking? Your right…Anyone that crossed us would have their bones crushed or be turned into ash!” I give off a flashy grin, my eyes glancing between the barkeep and Morden. She didn’t seem too impressed, but smirked as her blush deepened slightly.

Morden then bumped his burly, gloved fist with my slightly smaller one. “Oi, now that’s’ tha spirt!”

I chuckled to myself once more, as I motion over to the barkeeper. “Hey, Vinyl,” She approached leaning on the counter close to me with that same smirk on her face as before. I closed the distance my voice lowered to almost whisper. “We’ll have another round as before…” She silently nodded. While her hand was still on the counter, I stopped her with my own. She looked back at me as I slid an extra gold coin towards her “…and uh…get somethin’ for yourself too” I winked at her, her grin growing wider.

“Sure thing, Sept~,” Her voice came out as smooth as spider silk. It was intoxicating. I tore my gaze from her as she swayed her hips, taking our mugs from the bar top to refill them. As I finally tore it away from her I looked back at Morden who had a goofy grin on his face. “What?” He shook his head as he snickered. I sigh. I decided to change the topic, and fast. “So, the ruins we found the sword in…” He turned his gaze as I leaned down, my voice lowering a little more so that he only heard me. “Was it dwarven, you think?” I asked. He scoffed, and chuckled half-heartedly.

“Boy I wish…we could have made so much from that material if we had it. That shite is quite rare in Aurora, and cost a pretty piece too!” I heard him sigh. “If only we had brought a few more tools…” He looked at the other patrons around the bar for brief moment, then back to me.

“You think the metal is found elsewhere?”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know lad. If I did, you think I would been there helping your sorry arse?” He chuckled once more.
“I mean, I’d like to think so.” I returned a half-hearted laugh of my own “After all, I did save your life quite a few times during the war.” Vinyl sauntered her way back over with two mugs in one hand and one in her other. She placed one of the two mugs. I winked at her before returning my gaze to the dwarf, take the mug and sipping it ever so slightly.

“Oi! I saved your arse more times than I can count! Don’t think I didn’t forget that big ass spider in that cave full of iron,” She walked over and set the mug next to Morden. He took a sip and let out a satisfied sigh. “Ah, Thanks lass~” She simply nodded and returned to her normal spot between us, taking a sip of her mug.

“Yea, yea. Whatever you say.” I raised my mug in the air. “Cheers mates.” The other two joined their mugs with mine. They clacked together, the sound of metal and wood colliding, the brew sloshed out of our tankards from the light collision. Each of us chugged a bit of our drink down, setting them down on the counter when we were done.

“Alright Septimus, so what’s going on between you two?” I was taking a sip of my drink when I noticed he was moving his finger between me and Vinyl. His tone sounded playful and childish, with a hint of sarcasm. Before I could answer, the pony in question reached over the small bar, and kissed me on the cheek, draping her arm around my neck.

Her voice, just as before came out little higher than before, her signature boyish tone. “Well, you two have your adventures with each other and the guild.” She ran her soft hand through my wild, dark brown hair, and pulled me slightly closer to her. I felt my cheeks burn slightly from embarrassment as she spoke while doing so. “Me and this guy over here have been having some rather...” I saw her bite her lip, probably from the fond memories. “…personal adventures of our own.”

I gave another chuckle as I turned, my voice quiet enough only for her to here. “Oh, you got that right~” I then proceed to nip and kiss at her neck, to which she giggled, which was soon followed by a soft moan.

The dwarf cleared his throat loud enough for us both to here. We both turned our heads, simultaneously. I felt my cheeks burn hard with embarrassment, I could sense by her increased heart rate that Vinyl was feeling the same. She slinked back behind the counter a bit, and as she did the dwarf spoke as he shook his head with his head in his hand. “Oi, if yer gonna do that, at least use the room upstairs. I know ye bastards got some open in this damned place. Gods alive…fuck sake…” He cleared his throat, his child like attitude of curiosity coming back as he took another sip from his mug. “So ‘ow long ‘as this been going’ on?”

I spoke up. “We started a few months before we left on our little journey, so almost a year now. We agreed that its nothin’ serious.” She looked back at him and nodded to confirm.

His mischievous smile was visible through that thick beard of his. He looked back to Vinyl who was still looking at him. He leaned across the counter, an evil like glint in his eye as he spoke “So tell me then Vinyl, what’s he like then, huh? What his favorite thing? Does he call ya’ names? Does he last long? Prolly not I bet. He was always the first to keel over in training.” Vinyl was struck with so many questions that her ears drooped a bit her face completely red. “Uhh….” She slowly walked away from us to serve other customers at the bar, scratching behind her head awkwardly as she moved away, her short tail drooping in embarrassment. Morden sat back in his stool laughing hysterically. “Oh the look on yer faces!” He took his mug and downed the rest of his brew.

My eyes lit as the anger inside of me rose. I gritted my teeth, opening the palm of my hand, and igniting it. The gloved palm lit on fire slightly, controlling it the best I could. I then reached my hand back and smacked the mug out of Morden’s hand mid-drink. With the added heat, it went flying across the tavern, landing on something hard as it made a loud metallic ‘THUNK!’. The rest of the ale spilled all over his face. I closed my hand into a fist, extinguishing what magical flame there was and grabbed him by the beard. I reeled my head back, and head butted him off his stool. Still dazed, he felt the full force and toppled over, hitting the floor of the tavern, hard. Dwarven bastard.

With a strength equal to him, I bent over picked him up by the scruff of his collar and shoved him against the bar top . He shook his head, with a quite surprised look in his eyes. I glared at him, my magical aura radiating through my now mana infused, eyes. “The hell is the matter with you, you fuckin’ coksnoddel?!”

He coughed, hoarsely speaking up. “Oi Septimus, calm down lad! Do ye really think I meant any ill will?! Shite mate…relax.” With that, I raised my fist and opened it, my open palm crackling with electrical magic, the currents visibly coursing through my fingers.

“Boy, if you weren’t my friend you’d be a fuckin ash pile right now.” I growled. My temper started to come down a bit as I saw Vinyl come back over, leaning on the bar, looking between the two if us, a mixture of confusion and concern on her face. My eyes went back to their normal state as I closed my hand, the magic dissipating once more

I set the dwarf down on the ground not before crouching down, and punching him hard right in the stomach. He bent over, as he groaned in pain. “Agh! Cheeky bastard…” He held his stomach with one hand and set the stool back upright, climbing onto it. He looked up to see Vinyl was back at the our bar side. Before she said anything, he spoke, a little breathless…. “Oi lass…I didn’ mean….to make ye upset…alrigh’, im sorry…” He looked down as he spoke, feeling the guilt broil as we both stared at him.

She waved it off like it was nothing. “Oh, your fine” She patted him on his shoulder. “Didn’t really expect a barrage of questions like that” She giggled and he groaned. I couldn’t help but laugh myself, leaning against the counter looking between the two. I then looked towards the open part of the tavern itself.

As I looked at the crowd I saw a large figure approaching me, it was pale green and had an under tooth sticking out. It was shirtless, and wore what looked like leather armored pants and padded boots. Probably was one of those low life orc mercenaries I bet. He approached me and held up the half brunt mug in his left hand. “Did throw this at Grok?” He spoke in a deep voice, speaking in broken common. I looked him up in down and saw a large bruise on the top of his bald, green head.

Not in a mood to start a bar fight, I pointed at larger, similar looking human male who was showing off his muscles to some bar wenches. “Nah, I think he did.” The orc looked me up and down and then back at what looked like a Bull or Minotaur. I can never tell the difference. My mood shift left me disinterested, so accidentally instigating a pub brawl would didn’t concern me that much. The orc then left me and pushed the bull looking guy who was showing off. The bull guy then pushed back. The orc then slammed the half-burnt tankard on the ground in anger and punched the bull guy in the face.

Soon enough, much of the pub was brawling, minus those at the bars, if they weren’t close. I chuckled knowing we were completely safe. Sensing this as well, and scanning around the area like me, Morden gave me hard jab to my shoulder. “Ow, the fuck was that for?”

He growled. “I thought ya said ya wouldn’ do that anymore!”

“I don’t want to fight an orc twice my size right now, you thickheaded dolt!”

“For the love of Traigrim! Septimus, you’re a stubborn as they come.” He threw up his hands in annoyance.

“Yea, whatever.” Satisfied with my answer I looked back at the brawl going on and tried to find the two that stared it all. The bull guy was on top of the table holding onto two bar wenches with one arm, and punching a gnome with his other. Poor little guy looked like he was missing some teeth. The orc, was leaning against a wall, knocked out cold.

I turned around sitting back onto the stool. Vinyl greeted me with a kiss which I happily accepted.
“Sept, if there wasn’t a fight in The Drunken Bear at least once a week, it would be a boring job.” Her soft hand caressed my lightly bearded face. I sighed.

“Hey Vinyl, you mind if I talk to Morden for a hot tick?” I handed her two gold coins. She smiled and nodded. I got my usual tankard of ale, and he, his Dwarven Mead. With my magic, I blocked out the sound of the fight and put up an invisible barrier around the bar, reinforcing it just in case. I then apologize for attacking him earlier, but he waved it off.

“Ah lad, don’t worry about it. That’s fine girl ya got there…the pony barkeeper of the Drunken Bear in the Capital…Lucky sonovabitch ye are…” He chuckled at this and took sip of his drink. I couldn’t help but give him a shit eating grin. We then both shared a laugh, drinking are brews.

As we drank we talked, and as we talked we drank. He recalled his time in the Iron Legion and told me the stories of his military adventures for what I felt was the hundredth time. I found myself copying what he was saying in my head and found it quite amusing. As he finished the story about fighting a hundred insurgents at once at the Battle of Desmond, I downed the last of my ale and shifted the discussion to our guild.
“Morden…you ever think that maybe The Crimson Guardians need us?”

He looked back at me with a furrowed brow. “Oh… not this again.” He placed his tankard on the bar top and pinches the bridge of his nose, his brows furrowed. “Septimus, we’re high ranking officers in tha’ guild. We’re well respected and loved not only by other members and other higher ups, but by everyone we’ve helped,” He paused to take a sip of his mead. “Novacoy treats you and me like his own brothers. You do know that, right lad?” He pauses to cough, taking another sip of his brew soon after and setting back on the bar top. “Your second in command, and I’m the Master of Recruiting! Don’t be bloody ridiculous” He scoffs, emptying the rest of his ale into his stomach before belching obnoxiously.

I sighed. “Novacoy is a great leader, he would do perfectly fine without us.” I could feel my speech slur as my vision blurred a little bit. I felt warm and comfortable.

He rolled his eyes at me, at least I thought he did. “You do realize, sooner or later Novacoy is going to hand over the reins, right?” He patted my thigh with his gloved hand. “He’s been grooming ya ever since that skirmish with the Wolf Marked mercenaries. He’s getting on in his year’s lad, and me and you still got our prime.”
Morden was smart for a dwarf his age. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend

“You know what, your bloody well right!” I slammed my mug on the counter, the brown liquid sloshing onto me, the bar top, and onto Morden. I looked down at the ale in my mug before downing it completely, the bittersweet taste of the brew making me feel as happy as a green hunter getting his first big kill.

I heard Morden let out a jovial laugh as he clasped his hand on my shoulder shaking it briefly. “That’s the Septimius I know!” He raised his mug. “To the Guardians!” I met his mug with my empty one, toasting to our guilds name.
“To the Guardians!” I cried. I then looked over to Vinyl, who walked back over, with a smug grin. “Another round sweetheart…” Placing a small bag of coins on the bar top, she looked at me with confusion “…and a round for everyone in here. Let them know that The Crimson Guardians send their regards!”

She looked me with a smile that continued to grow, as she simply nodded with bright blushing cheeks. She came around the bar and I wrapped my arm around her small waist with my free hand, holding her close. I looked at the other patrons of the tavern, who’s eyes were all trained on me. I took my mug and thrusted into the air with a wild grin on my face.

The tavern roared with appreciation. I then turned, and kissed the beautiful pony in my arms. Letting go of her, she giggled and went back to fetch a tray and mugs for the other patrons. I sat back down, smacking her rear as she went back. I heard her squeak as I did so. I looked back to the tavern regulars and the dwarf in front of me who was smiling. I sighed and leaned against the bar.

The council would love this one.