75 75 A Merry Crew

"Not as fucked as you might think kiddo," laughed Jimmy.

"See, yer cap'n here knew ye were gonna do something like this, but she was hoping for you to actually NOT do it. Which if I might remind you, you did," he laughed even harder.

"Yeah Donis, what the fuck? I asked you to stay away from this, I even told you that it might be a threat to your LIFE!... oh yeah I see my mistake," sighed Striga.

"Guys, come on, I couldn't just NOT go to an ancient ruin, filled with mystery and a direct order from my boss! You guys aren't going to hog all the fun while I go and exterminate some questionable looking monsters," Donis pouted half-heartedly.

"Alright, c'mere-to-me," said Striga as she brought Donis closer to her.

"Listen, I'll forgive you this one time..." she whispered into his ear..

"But if you ever disobey me again, I'll remove YOUR Jimmies, and there will be no potion for you. I also have Yyrthrub under my thumb, if I want something unfixable, I ask him."

Donis could only swallow at the implications she was insinuating.

"Now," she patted him on the shoulder.

"Meet the crew, this is Rona, Cypher, Morick, and last but not least, John," said Striga pointing out the men and women in front of her.

"John?" asked Donis confused.

"Yeah? Do you know him?" she looked at Donis quizzically.

"N-no! It's just an unusual name, is all," he lied through his teeth.

'Why is his name John? That's so fucking not-of-this-world like. How could there be such a boring name in this world??' he screamed mentally.

A man who looked to be in his late thirties, dressed in combat garb stepped up. His face was baby-ish, with a weak jawline, and soft looking cheeks. His hair was auburn, and his eyes seemed a bit dull but they looked awake. He put out his hand for a greeting, and introduced himself.

"Aye, my names John, I know it's a bit of an exotic name, but don't let it fool ya. Am homegrown right on these lands, Grimbays my home!" he said with a slightly effeminate yet nasal-y voice.

"Y-yeah, it's a nice name," stuttered Donis, meeting him for a handshake.

'Ugh, even his handshake is pathetic,' sighed Donis.

"I'm in charge of the map for the place, seeing how I'm the only person who can read this specific dialect of ancient Hran," said John.

"Hran?"

"Yeah, the people who built this temple," said John matter-of-factly.

"Don't mind him, he doesn't remember that most people don't know who the Hran were, nor that they have separate dialects. They were the ancient Erazarians, essentially. According to Cypher there, they built this temple as a homage to their ancient god Tekkun," interjected Striga.

"Oh okay, but who's that?" asked Donis, getting annoyed at the info given. It just gave way to more questions with not enough answers.

"Alright lad, look, I don't want to give you a history lesson right now. Tekkun is what we believe the Hran worshipped. He seems to be one of the same gods that we have, but he shares all of the qualities of each of our gods. This temple could help us figure out the link between Tekkun and the entire pantheon of gods we worship," said Cypher after stepping up.

She was a lithe woman who was no older than 20. Even her status page said so. It surprised Donis, since she also seemed far more hardened than any normal 20 year old he's met so far. She had black hair and grey-blue eyes, a striking feature on her plain looking face. She wore a similar combat garb that the entire group wore. A set of combat boots, dark pants which stuck tightly to their bodies and a jacket that seemed to function as both armour and a fashion statement.

"Yeah, now since you're caught up, you also need to know you've become a liability. The potential traps around here could kill you before you even know what's happened," sighed Rona, another annoyed teammate.

She was a strong looking woman, with a face that could either be 25 or 35. Her stats told Donis she was actually 27, which didn't surprise him, but confused him at the same time. She was almost as tall as Striga, but her build fell short. She was definitely strong, but not chiselled like Striga. Her blond her betrayed her strong features, as it gave her the femininity that she definitely wasn't looking for. Her green eyes were constantly scanning the surroundings, looking for danger.

"This is Rona, she's the trapmaster of ancient Hrans. She's going to be vital to our survival and is tasked with letting us know of dangers way before they even have a chance to hurt a hair on our heads," said Striga looking at Donis. She then turned back to Rona and continued.

"Though you need to have some faith in this kid, he's far, far more capable than what you might be thinking," laughed Striga.

Rona stepped back, unwanting to answer the obvious lie Striga just told her. Why would she believe that the 15 year old there could be anything more than a burden.

Morick was the only man amongst the group that Striga took with her, and he had yet to even look up at Donis, clearly not interested in greeting the newfound member. A strong face, wild and untamed red hair, with muscle that bulged through the fabric of his clothing. A sword on his side and an ominous air about him.

"Oh that's Morick, don't be shocked by his looks, he's actually a softie," laughed Striga after she noticed the fearful face Donis had made after seeing the menacing man.

Morick then shot a glare at Striga and immediately turned away, trying to not make any eye contact.

'Wh-WHAT? What are all those muscles for if you're gonna get shy now? This crew makes no sense," Donis sighed as hard as he mentally could.

"Morick here is in charge of keeping our inventory. He needs to take care of everything we find, and also to ration our food and make sure none of us die from lack of basic needs. He's equipped with even potions and medical supplies to take care of any of," pointed out Striga.

"Now that everyones introduced lets-"

"Who's the kid though and what can he do?" interrupted Cypher.

"Oh this is Donis, and I'm sure you'll find out. He's surprised me many times already, he'll probably keep that up. Anyway, welcome lads. Lets go and find some treasure, uncover some secrets and become filthy rich!" laughed Striga as she opened her arms to the narrow pathway that they were on.

Donis looked around and saw moss growing on the plain stone walls that surrounded them. The only light was from the makeshift lantern that Striga had chained to her waist. The air here was dry, and a little stuffy. There was no ancient writing on the walls, and nothing to even show that this was a ruin, since everything was perfectly kept.

"A-are you sure this will get us rich? It looks a little.. underwhelming here.." sighed Donis after looking around.

"What, were you expecting giant caverns with waterfalls and urns littered everywhere, or maybe some ancient and mystic writings on the walls, or or even better yet, an altar where they sacrificed people?" said Rona mockingly.

"I mean I was, yeah, that sounds fucking amazing!" chimed in Jimmy.

"Ugh, fucking man-children," spat Rona.

Jimmy turned to Donis and winked, alleviating some of the pressure from him.

'Thanks Jimmy, you're a real bro,' he cried happy tears mentally.

The group ended up packing everything up and started to move forward. With the grace of a snail and the speed of an asleep ox, they took careful steps. Making sure that every single step they took was measured, calculated and safe, Cypher took the lead.

Donis was quickly realising that this group was definitely not the bold and adventurous type, fuck they might not even be the calm type. He didn't really know what he'd gotten himself involved in, but he didn't care. He could see something up ahead that was collecting a lot of mana in one place, and it really piqued his interest.

The hallway was as safe as it was boring, though Donis's face definitely didn't seem bored and Striga picked up on that. She stood back and met up with Donis, ushering him gently to walk to the back with her.

"See something?" she whispered to him.

"Yeah, it's big," he whispered back.

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever it is in front of us, it's accumulating a lot of mana in one place. I have no clue what I'm looking at, but it's like a gentle whirlwind collecting all of the mana in the area into a single point," he whispered.

Striga fell into a moment of silence, and went back to the front of the group. She wasn't certain what Donis was talking about, and she wasn't sure how he could see it, but knowing him she wasn't going to question this little secretive idiots words.

After what seemed like an eternity, the group left the hallway and came up to an opening. Strigas eyes widened when she saw what Donis was describing. She didn't need his special abilities to see what he was trying to describe.

A giant, visible, whirlpool of mana was converging into a single piece of metal in the middle of the open room. There was a waterfall, urns and runic writing everywhere on the walls.

"Hahahaha, I fucking knew it Cypher," Jimmy laughed so hard he fell over.

"Shut. Up." spat Cypher with venom and animosity in every syllable.