-Heroes of oldAviva, the Elven Druid Douglas, the Human Bard

Kylie, the Tiefling Rogue

Jessica, the Half-Elf Ranger

Ricky, the Human Fighter

-Heroes of old-

Enjoy the tales, dear reader

-Garrett1

Prologue
"I told you not to open that door!" "How was I supposed to know it was the guards barracks?" "Because it said 'GAURDS' on the sign!" "I didn't know! I can't read Orcish!" "It was in English!" "...Oh." An arrow swished past between their heads; lodging itself in a wooden post ahead with a thunk! "And now they're shooting arrows at us!" yelled Kylie. "At least its not fireballs!" replied Douglas. Suddenly, a contingent of Orc guards, led by a blackrobed Reptorion mage, rounded the corner further down the passageway they were escaping through. "Damn." "You just had to ask for it." sighed Kylie. The dark mage barked a series of magic words in his crawling lizard tongue and shot a fireball from his outstretched hands at the fleeing pair. "Walls!"
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They flattened themselves against the wall on either side of the passage as the fireball blasted past between them, striking the suddenly surprised guards behind with a loud explosion; resulting in crispy Orc bits splattering about. Barely breaking stride, the pair launched forward and continued running towards the mage and his cronies. The mage hissed in anger and prepared another fireball. "Over and under!" shouted Douglas as he tore a large shield off its decorative wall hanging and slung it onto his back. Leaning forward, Douglas stopped for the briefest of seconds as Kylie used the shield as a springboard to launch herself into the air and over the Orc guards. Using the tumbling rogue as a distraction, Douglas darted forward, flung a dagger into the exposed neck of the gawking spell-caster and, using his momentum to propel him forward, flung himself on his shield and slid under the group of confused Orcs, slicing a few of their tendons along the way. Kylie landed and delivered a few well-placed blows to the confused Orcs at the back of the group, just in time to clear a path for Douglas. The chaos they had inflicted was enough to allow them a head start, but it wasn't long

before the howls of the enraged guards could again be heard on their heels. "The exit is up ahead!" shouted Douglas. "And not a moment too soon, they're almost upon us!" replied Kylie. "Hey, look! Ricky!" Ricky got up from leaning against the keep's large wooden doors and waved at the two runners. "Hey guys! Did you find the-OOF!" was the noise Ricky made as he was tackled through the doors by the running siblings. "Avi! Jess!" they yelled in unison as they landed. "On it!" answered Jessica, having already knocked several arrows to her bow. "kortunis calema-ti!" continued Avi, already almost finishing her spell's incantation. Lightning flared from her finger tips, and arrows flew from their string as the Orc guards were greeted with a deadly barrage of steel-tipped horror and nature's fury. They were down in seconds. There were no survivors. "Sorry about that Ricky. You ok there?" asked Douglas as he helped the fighter up. "Yeah, just a bruised ego...and ass."
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"Nice going girls!" said Kylie dusting herself off and examining the charred corpses of the ex-guards. "All in a days work." Jessica said, high-fiving Avi. "Haha! Yup!" said Avi with a smile. "Did you get the orb?" she asked Kylie. "Yeah, right here." Kylie fished a beautiful blue and white glowing orb from her belt pouch. Holding it up in one hand against the backdrop of the cool night sky made it look like a tiny blue moon. The florescent patterns swirled as if reacting to the presence of its admirers and bathed the area in a calming blue light. The earth beneath their feet suddenly began to tremble violently causing them to stumble about. A great fissure opened before them, belching fire and smoke high into the air. The column hissed violently and the very air seemed to be choking on this ferocious upheaval. Red, glowing symbols carved their way across the landscape, surrounding the group in a web of magical sigils. Out from the smoke stepped a figure in a fine robe and leather armour adorned with skulls and spikes in all the right places. The air crackled and sparked with magical tension as the figure casually approached the group. The smoke and
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fire sucked back into the earth, as did the magical symbols vanish before the fissure sealed itself with a crack. "Well done everyone, haha, well done." said Garrett, clapping slowly as he stood before the assembled heroes. "I especially liked the ending, very flashy, very dead Orcs." he said with a wink. His smile was filled with sarcastic mirth, but his deep blue eyes never changed from the cold, knowing gleam they had. The display of power certainly captured their attention, as it always had before. "Ill take orb then, thanks." And suddenly the orb was in his outstretched hand. "Ah, excellent. A few more and your quest will be complete and youll be able to return home." He let his hand drop and the orb floated its way into a waiting pouch on his belt. His voice was calm, almost friendly, but he could not keep the smile from his face. He was clearly enjoying this. "Oh, dont look at me like that. You know that you need to gather all these orbs if you wish to return home. Even with all my power, I am still limited to affecting events in this realm only. If you wish to return to your world, and the Garrett you know there, this is your only hope." A small goblin-like creature appeared from under

his robes and scurried over to Avi, handing her a rolled-up parchment. "Is this the location of the next orb?" "Yes it is. It also includes a town where you can spend the night and recover. See, Im not all bad. "He said with a serpent-like smile." Well, I must be off. Try not to kill yourselves my heroes." Evil-Garrett, as the group had begun calling him, walked into a suddenly rising mist and disappeared, laughing to himself as he vanished. The goblin-creature looked back at the group with almost a hint of pity as he vanished after his master. "Well, should we head to the town? I could do with some food and a bed." Ricky said as he wrapped an arm around Jessica. "I just hope its better than the last place. At the very least it needs to have hot water." "Well, at least your demand is more realistic this time Kyle, just before the last town you wanted TV and a proper toilet!" laughed Avi. At that, the group laughed away the days worries and began the walk to the next town. A hard road lay ahead, but the soon-to-be heroes of Terrandrial would soon find it was much more rewarding, and dangerous, than they ever imagined.
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