A Party Formed

The overcast clouds had begun to part away to the blue sky that hid behind the grey. The streets of Rainspring had become more alive after the onslaught of rain from the past two weeks had moved on. Market stalls began to be set up once more, and more adventurers now undeterred by the weather, began to ready themselves to move on or for their quests that had been put on hold.

Caerus, Ember, and Red made their way to the stables that lay near the city gates. For the first time in three weeks, Caerus had left the safe confines of the tower, ready to embark on his first adventure. A request had been posted on the noticeboard that hung in the conjuration dorms, a request to examine a curious magic circle that had appeared in the depths of a new dungeon nearby. With Zilkum's blessing, Caerus took on the request, but the weather had held the party at bay due to the difficult terrain it made on route to the dungeon.

The stables reeked of manure and hay as Caerus approached. It only took a quick glance around before he was able to find the adventurers he would be accompanying. A steel-clad warrior with tanned skin and long black hair cropped behind his jewelry-adorned ears. A rogue dressed in tight leathers under a long green cloak that hid the curved daggers upon her waist. And a sorcerer in a fine blue and gold jacket bounced a ball of fire between their ring-covered hands.

"Hail wizard!" The warrior stepped forth. "I am Arthus, this is the devilish Lissandra and the boisterous Siobhan." He motioned to the rogue and sorcerer respectively.

"I've always wondered how depressing it must be to have to read so much for magic instead of being inherently gifted." Siobhan laughed.

"I've always wondered if you read more Siobhan, would you be more useful to us?" Lissandra replied.

Siobhan's hands set ablaze with flame, while Lissandra already had three small daggers tucked between her fingers.

"That's enough you two." Arthus stepped between them laughing. "We are grateful you accepted our request, this dungeon has been difficult to close so your expertise is in need. What is your name?" Arthus outstretched his hand.

"I'm Caerus, this little guy is Red. Careful he is teething right now." Caerus grasped Arthus' hand in a firm shake.

Red had already begun to chew on the hem of Caerus' cloak, it was lucky that he didn't have the jaw strength to chew through the magically enhanced fabric.

"Will he be ok? It's not a place for puppies," Lissandra asked a few steps away.

"Due to some idiotic circumstance with my first attempt at a summon, he is eternally bound to me. So where I go he comes," Caerus sighed and picked Red up.

"Well ok, if that is what must be done. Shall we set off then? It is a few hours away, and I would like to be back before tomorrow's sunrise," Arthus said.

The sun had won its battle with the dark clouds and proudly shone across the plains. The group was friendly enough with conversation, questions about conjuration. Caerus had heard some horror stories about parties that filled their numbers just to abandon the new guy or brought them along as a meat shield, but he could not picture this group doing anything of the sort. Lissandra could be blunt but she had a dry humor to her that Caerus couldn't help but enjoy. Siobhan was loud and some could see her as arrogant, but her confidence seemed to be the moral support of the group. With Arthas just chortling himself to near choking every so often, he was very laid back for the leader of a group. Caerus had been stuck in the tower with Ember and Hina to talk to, so it was a nice change of pace for him.

At the sun's peak, they had begun to approach the dungeon entrance. A cave that had formed deep within the Springrush Forest. As they approached another party was camped outside. Their faces looked drained of energy, splashes of blood and sweat covered their brow and attires.

"Let me deal with this," Arthus whispered. "Hail friends, are the riches plentiful within the dungeon today?"

One of the other party members took notice of them.

"It's not too bad, but we will be making another attempt at it soon so-"

One of the other members put his hand on the man's shoulder and whispered into his ear. The man's eyes widened.

"But if you want to take a run at it you are more than welcome to Arthas sir."

Caerus was confused at the change of tone, the man started off with some attitude but became polite in an instant. Maybe Arthas was well known he thought to himself.

"We will warn you though, this dungeon is weird." The man behind piped up. "The monsters have become stronger seemingly overnight, we had a decent run yesterday but today it was more difficult. We have never seen such an increase so quick."

"Do not fret, we have brought a summoner with us so if all goes well we will close this dungeon before the night's end. Let's ready up team!"

They pulled their wagon to the side as the team inspected their supplies. They brought an assortment of potions some red some blue, along with jars of a green liquid that Lissandra carried. They had enough rations to last for two days, and a few skins of water.

"What are these?" Caerus inspected the potions.

"You serious?" Lissandra cocked her head to the side.

"Well, Caerus." Arthas quickly interjected. "The red ones are healing potions, they will seal up most wounds and restore your stamina. The blue are mana potions, they help restore our mana pools and relieve fatigue. The green ones are some particularly cheeky poisons that our dear Lissandra concocted. That book on Alchemy has really been useful hey?" Arthas laughed.

His positivity was almost infectious with how friendly and easy he was to deal with. Even in the face of what must have been a stupid question to most people who had played games before.

"Now let's party up," Arthas instructed.

"Sorry, how do I do that?" Caerus began to feel more and more idiotic.

Siobhan and Lissandra shot a look to Arthas, probably in an attempt to question if bringing Caerus was a good idea.

"It is ok. There are the rare few Outlanders who do not understand how these things work. Here let me send you an invite."

The familiar floating screen popped up in front of Caerus' face.

'Arthas has invited you to join his party. Do you accept? Yes or No'

Caerus accepted, and a new screen popped up with each member's name followed by a red bar and a blue bar. Thinking to the potions, Caerus deduced that they must be health and mana respectively.

"In a party, we will be able to stay in constant communication, as well as share experience with each other. It is the backbone of every team, a bond forged, unbreakable by the world that attempts to-" Arthas began to ramble.

"Don't mind him, he can get very passionate from time to time," Siobhan explained.

Lissandra gave Arthas a swift kick in his backside that made him jump up and stop his speech of friendship and iron forged bonds.

The party, now ready. Stood at the mouth of the cave, Caerus could feel the magic that pulsed from within. It throbbed and pulsed in the back of his mind like an itch he could not reach.

"Let's do this Red," he whispered as they entered.