Two chapters from my story on Royal Road with some familiar names.

[Mikhaila]

I'm writing a litrpg story on Royal Road. I needed some characters for a guild that appears now and then. That's how the Aussie Old Farts joined the story with characters Manwar, Greenberg, and Monger.

Disclaimer: In no way is this meant to represent people and it's all wrong. (Except the lemons.) Not everyone is in that guild. I don't know if Greenberg is an elf since I've only ever known him as a deer. I vaguely remember asking permission, lets assume I did.

Chartok the Necro pupper is also in the story. One chapter so far, with another on the way. At some point Towers will show up, but at his insistance it has to be to screw something up horribly.

I had a good deal of fun with the chapters with PG people in them. Posting a couple below.

Link to story: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/43...er-of-gadobhra

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"Dammit Greenberg, will you just show us the pages with the map?" This was the 4th time Monger had asked the ranger if he could look at the map he was making. Greenberg's refusal, and the ensuing arguments had been been annoying to everyone. As it became apparent the area wasn't very dangerous, the two women had headed back to the tavern leaving Manwar, Greenberg, and Monger to carry on with the mapping.

Greenberg had stopped and was sketching again in his large journal. "I told you, you can see it when it's done and I can copy my pages to a larger format. I'm not just letting you look at my journal." Monger continued to argue with him. Manwar scouted ahead a bit. After he was out of sight he circled back silently. He came up behind Greenberg and peered over his shoulder. Scowling, Manwar yelled at him, "That's a Deer! Why the hell are you drawing a Deer? You're supposed to be drawing a detailed map of the area!!"

"Eeep! Do not startle me that way when I'm drawing. I hate erasing things!!"

Monger grabbed the book away from him. The first few pages seemed to be an attempt to map the areas they had been to. Then it got confusing. Arrows would point to both sides of the page with 'North?' written next to both of them. The drawings became more and more confused. Finally, a page said only, "Screw it." The following page had a drawing of a deer. Followed by another page with a drawing of a deer. In fact, the next fifteen pages had drawings of deer. Very nice deer. But not a map.

Neither of his companions were happy. Greenberg ignored them and began eating a lemon.

Manwar finally looked at the elf and said "Ok, I'll admit they are nice pictures of deer. You really captured their images. But could you maybe explain why you quit mapping?"

"Oh, that's easy. It didn't make any sense; we kept changing direction. I tried to tell you, but you just kept telling me to draw the map and you knew where you were going. I was getting dizzy trying to map things and argue with you about what path was north. So I gave up and drew deer."

Manwar and Monger just stared at Greenberg. Thinking back, they did remember him arguing, but it had always seemed obvious to them which way to go. Some trails led in the right direction, and others didn't. Which seemed really strange when they thought about it. Manwar looked at the elf enjoying his snack. "Let me guess, you're immune to it because you eat lemons."

"Well, I was thinking it was my 6 WIS, Perception skill at 3, Tracking at 2, and innate Elven ability to resist mental attacks. But you're right, it must be the lemons." And with that he took out another lemon and bit into it.

Manwar looked at Monger and asked "So, what direction haven't we been in?" Monger thought a bit and pointed. Manwar looked at Greenberg, "Lead us in the opposite direction. If we start acting weird, just sit down and draw a deer."

Many deer drawings later, another picture was starting to appear. There was an area where, as Monger put it, "Shit just gets weird." The two humans felt a compulsion to go the other way. Greenberg seemed immune at first, but at a certain point, even he stopped. "I can't go any further, and it's hard to look at that rock." The other two couldn't even turn their heads in that direction. "What rock, Greenberg? Describe it."

"It's about two foot high, square at the bottom, maybe a foot across. The top has a flattened point. I think I can see writing on it, but it's hard to see with the vegetation. Hmm....and I can see a similar looking rock to the west of it about 20 feet, and one the other direction. Some sort of magic stones?"

Manwar's head was pounding. "Try to lead us along a path that parallels the stones. Monger, see if you can keep track of direction and distance. Plot it on a grid. Let's find out how big this area is."

[Mikhaila]

Said scouts were just wandering up after an early breakfast at the tavern and morning beers. "Where the hell you three been? I need reports on anything you've found, especially old ruins or caves."

Monger laughed. Greenburg pulled out a journal with a hand drawn deer on the front and opened it to a page showing a map of the area. One circular spot was suspiciously blank and surrounded by noted and marked points.

Manwar spoke in a low drawl. "Well now, Billy, I don't know about caves, but how about a hidden city about a mile across and sealed by magical runestones. Would that interest you a bit?"

Greenburg pointed to a line of copied runes. "I don't have the skill to decipher of much of this. But one word is repeated over and over:"

Gadobhra


(chapter break)

Billy blinked a few times. "A city? A big fething hidden city? With a dungeon"

Greenberg took a* delicate bite of his lemon before answering. "Yes, I believe that is what Manwar stated. A large* ruined city hidden behind a ring of rune carved monoliths, hiding it from any but the most stalwart of mappers. Generally such ruins include dungeons. I believe finding such maximizes the bonuses you so generously offered us."

"Right. Of course. You found the dungeon-infested, ruined city that I hired you to find. I knew it was around here. Good job. I'll authorize accounting to pay out your bonus. Have it to you just as soon as we get into the city and start pulling loot out of the dungeons." If Billy could finance it all himself without Vern, he'd have a better claim to a higher percentage of the take.

Manwar and Monger allowed Greenberg to handle negotiations. He was much, much more annoying to deal with. Manwar got bored with arguing and Monger could be bribed with beer. Greenberg didn't mind negotiating for hours until he got his way. "That presents a small problem. I believe our pay was for scouting the area, plus significant bonuses for areas of interest that we found. Both jobs are done. So our payment is due now. "

Bill had no time for this. Llayla was on the way, and Vern right behind her. Finding a city was just what he needed. This changed his boasts into reality and put him in the driver's seat. 'Regional Manager Billy' had a nice ring to it.*

"Sorry boys, just don't have time for this. ACME is a huge corporation with a lot of moving parts. You'll get paid. Now where did you say this place was?"

The elf looked at his compatriots. "I'm sure the two of you are fatigued, we've tirelessy worked for days to compile these maps. Perhaps you should go take a room at the Inn and sleep a bit? I will take my rest here talking with Mr. Billy. Catch up with you in a few hours."

As the two humans went to catch a nap, Greenberg turned back to Billy: "Why, we hadn't said anything about the location of the city.* But rest assured,* it is more or less than 100 miles away in a direction of North, South, East, or West, or a combination of those directions."* He patiently waited as Billy worked through that.*

"Dammit, I could just hire more scouts, find it, and then you get nothing."

Greenberg took out a book, and began a charcoal sketch of a doe and fawns. "Oh, but you already established that you don't have time for that. So hiring new scouts is out of the question.* I on the other hand, being of an immortal race, am content to spend days discussing the situation with you."

It was the drawings that broke Billy. They were cute, and he hated looking at cute.* In the end, he had to dip deep into his available cash to pay the scouting fees, on time bonus, and a* larger bonus for the city.* For the dungeon bonus they agreed to a compromise.*

"Damn, that was quick". Manwar and Monger were still eating breakfast when Greenberg walked into the Inn.*

"A man with no time should not bargain with one of the immortal race."

Greenberg tossed a heavy bag of coin on the table. "Payment in full for the job, plus bonuses for on time and a significant ruin. We negotiated a compromise of sorts on the dungeon bonus, but it is highly in our favor, but will see us paid after the dungeons first loot is brought out. "

Manwar tucked the coins into his pack. "Which is fine, since we have no clue if there even is a dungeon. All right, time to go show the nice man who paid us the gold where his city gates are. I'm really wondering what he does after that."