An Odd Adventure

Cold steel and sweat mixed with despair. That was the smell of the battlefield, where thousands with bright futures and aspiring dreams become part of mud - war was always like this, and it will never change. Tenpao, leader of the most successful battalion at the mage wars, his overall unique view of the battlefield and strategies could even overcome the great disparity of the number of soldiers he fought against. His magic capable of memorizing anything perfectly and his knowledge of magila allowed his mana reinforcement to make him nearly impervious to arrows and blades alike.

But no amount of expertise can confront the sheer might of the archmage. The faces of his subordinates were eternally burned into his mind, their faces melting while screaming for divine intervention, for help, for their mothers, now eternally carved into his body and spirit.

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Tenpao woke up, his body unresponsive with the feeling of skin burning, starvation, and the poison once used on him before it all faded away, it was a routine at this point. With the burning of his fibers, he sat up on his bed, made out of Listrite, a rare tree monster that can be found inside Rima forest just outside Poma borders. Tenpao bones creaked as he got up and his vision briefly blurred before everything came to a comfortable stillness, he opened his cabinet near his bed and took out a bottle full of restoration pills - he didn't need them, but it made the day easier.

After the pill kicked in, Tenpao yawned and made his way to the bathroom, the tiles were made of top-of-the-line ceramic and so were the toilet and sink - many wouldn't even dream of spending money on such useless things but Tenpao didn't care or rather, he couldn't find a motive to care. No matter how he spent the money, be it in stupid or intelligent ways it would never run out until his death.

The mirror reflected a wrinkled old face, scars on the neck, and a completely bald forehead. The places where the fire burned were darker than his usual skin, sometimes he could still see the faces on his palms. How much blood did he shed? How much blood was turned into mud on that day?

Tenpao knew it didn't matter, he knew it was in the past and he shouldn't care about it anymore but it wasn't that simple. He turned the sink and threw some water on his face then tidied up his unreasonably expensive cotton clothes before going to the kitchen, it was empty as always. Sure, there was a fridge with top-of-the-line runes and kitchen utensils but the important stuff that should be in the kitchen, there was nothing.

Sometimes the old war veteran thought of why he even came to the kitchen, it was always empty. So he moved towards the door and opened it, the heat from outside immediately made itself known by slapping him across the face. Literally. Oddtown was one of the most magical places in the whole world, to the point even natural phenomena have consciousness, and your kitchen utensil suddenly gaining the ability to speak didn't become an 'if' but a 'when.' The past few weeks he grew accustomed to the craziness of this city while his house was being built.

And today was the day Tenpao was finally going to change, but first, he needed to grab some grub. The streets were filled with many creatures, dragons, elves, humans, gnolls, cat siths, roachmen, and more, Poma kingdom had always been welcoming of any sentient beings, independent of origin - that was one of the sparks that started the war with Hirtai, besides the resources. Some bearded old men were walking up his house wall, once again literally, to place some new bricks while his house complained about bird droppings, at the other side of the street a cat sith was placing a ladder on the tree to rescue a stuck dragon, the ladder fell once he got up and now the two were stuck in the tree. Such sights didn't phase Tenpao anymore as his walk ended at the commercial district on a fruit stall run by one of the cowkins, his horns were sharp and he wore a black tank top while reading a magazine, his hooves laid on the counter and his chair was tilted in a perpetual near fall state.

"How much for these apples?" Tenpao said.

The bull closed the magazine and fixed his sitting posture, "'bout ten bronze per kilo." He reached down picked up a balance then put a basket on top of it.

"Ten bronze..?" Tenpao said, looking at the apples which were very round and ripe. That is until one of them grew legs and walked away, to the surprise of the bull. He stared back at Tenpao and a single sweat ran through his forehead.

"E-eight bronze per kilo." The bull raised eight fingers, and much to Tenpao's delight more apples began to grow legs to run away, "One bronze per kilo!"

At that Tenpao picked ten apples and paid one bronze, the bull immediately ran after the apples. Tenpao shrugged and took the basket as well, eating one apple as he made his way to the adventurers guild and the news stall that was also on the way. He didn't even need to say anything to the imp worker and just tossed a bronze coin and picked a journal, this was one of his newfound pleasures in this mad town as for all the craziness that happens it was hilarious to read what was going on.

The journal unfolded with a big title 'Two Siths, a Hybrid, and a Gnoll Sudden Appearance Causes Panic!' The article goes about how a gnoll 'Pampkin' used a teleportation artifact to escape a very 'meanie' mercenary and his band of 'nasty' kobolds attempt take the treasure and how said sudden teleportation made the residents think it was another evil wizard trying to take over the town. Besides that Jacinto's milk shop is going on a sale. Tenpao shruggedm rolled the newspaper back, and threw it at the basket then moved on to the adventurers guild.

Adventurer guild, first made at Estelaria but quick to spread throughout all great countries to explore ruins and territory while doing good deeds to the city, it was something that all kings approved and invested some funds for reliable adventurers, but Oddtown was an exception. A good one. The adventure guild was only a single building that held quests in other cities, but on Oddtown, it was large enough to encompass a full block, being two floors at that. A building with the structural resilience of a castle, having multiple facilities inside, trainers, places to grow stronger, restaurants, recreational areas, and more. Nobody knows how this adventurers guild got so big but a rumor has it that six dragons funded it because they thought it was funny.

Nonetheless, the history of this place didn't matter to Tenpao as he entered inside and the cheer of the adventurers even made the glass windows shake, supposedly today was a holiday for adventurers. Many training facilities and gyms were closed while the restaurants and recreational areas were filled, but no matter the occasion the quest board was always open, Tenpao headed towards the quest board.

Which took ten minutes of walking - "If these old bones weren't so sturdy they'd have to stop at least once, phew." Tenpao said to no one in particular and headed towards the worker, a golden gnoll wearing a black business-dog suit and round glasses.

"Hello, partner." He spoke with a smile, "What'd you need today?"

"A formulary and a table to recruit party members," Tenpao said.

With lightning-quick speed, the gnoll reached down and brought back a piece of paper, "Five silver." The gnoll spoke, and Tenpao paid without much thought. The gnoll nodded and went back to doing nothing in particular as Tenpao picked a table and waited, tables near the quest boards are always used for recruitment, it was an unspoken law among adventurers. And so, with the hope of good newbies that would come Tenpao sat smiling.

But what Tenpao didn't account for was for his first party member to be an old friend, one covered from top to bottom with steel, a large automatic crossbow on his back with a chain connected to a smaller metal box on his waist, a morning star at the other side of his waist, gambeson could be seen behind all that steel, braided black beard and a gjermundbu to cover his bald head, a figure that would be imposing if he wasn't only a meter tall. 

"Ten! Finally moving those saggy old bones eh?! Let's get something to drink!" His only remaining friend, Dwelm, said. Cheerful as ever.