The Mightiest Rock [Dungeon]

Vincent had invited Rin with him to travel to Enca in service of a guild job before he was to leave with Elvira by the end of the week. On the way to the harbor town, though, the wizard encountered what appeared to be a farmer standing on the side of the road. Could he be a bandit? I can't think of any prominent farms within this distance of Hargeon town... he thought, cautiously continuing down the dirt path laid for travelers. "Hol' on there, traveler, ah have a proposition for ya!" The voice came from the farmer once Vincent got sufficiently close and was quite vague, causing his suspicion to grow as he slowed his walk to a stop and turned his head to the man. "Ah kin tell that you're one of those... what're they called agin? Geeld mages! You're a geeld mage! A strong one at that if my instincts are raht. So what do you say about humorin' an old farmhand with a lil'... test o' strength?" he said, a combination of flattery and humility being blended to get Vincent's guard down. He wasn't about to let compliments put him in a dangerous position, so he carefully responded. "A test of strength you say? What did you have in mind?"

"Well ahm glad that you asked. You see those rocks over there. We each take one and try to break are best to break em'. Whoever breaks their rock first is the winner!" As prompted, Vincent looked over to the side and sure enough there were two rocks ready for pummeling. Something seemed a bit... off though, to say the least. One of the rocks was much sturdier and appeared to be much more difficult to break than the other. "I presume you've already set your sights on the smaller rock? Don't you think that this isn't much of a fair test? That smaller rock is going to break much more quickly than the one you want me to take." "In't fayer? I take offense to that, geeld mage. I'm but a humble farmer, ah need to take the slightly smaller rock in order tuh even compete. Ah can always find someone else if yer afraid of a farmhand with a shovel." Some test of strength, I suppose. he thought, but kept it to himself. Vincent simply nodded to the happiness of the farmer. He was still suspicious, but he wouldn't let on in case this farmer really was a bandit. Secretly, the Crystal Swan wizard hoped that he would be ambushed so that he could take all of the offenders to the nearest Rune Knight outpost to face their sentence.

"Yipee, alright we'll go on the count of three. One... three!" he said, shovel already in hand. The farmer sprinted to the other side of the dirt road towards the smaller rock without even counting to two. Why am I not surprised that he would fight dirty? the wizard thought, dashing into a much faster sprint towards the rock. Vincent got to his rock about five seconds before the farmer who cursed the skies. "How about this, farmer, I'll make it even easier on you and only use my two fists to break this boulder. My strength alone should be more than enough for the task." The farmhand looked at him with wide eyes before beginning to laugh, hard. He almost dropped his shovel to the ground as the tears welled up in his eyes. "Mister, yer crazy if you think that you can break anything other than yer knuckles by punching that there stone, but be mah guest." While this verbal show of strength may have been seen as pure arrogance to an onlooker, Vincent's suspicions of the man never dwindled. He suspected that the boulder and the "test of strength" were a means to tire out an unsuspecting and arrogant traveler.

Once they lost to the farmer and tired themselves out with the rock either by using their magic or exercising their effort in some other way, the bandits would ambush the weakened fool and take what they wanted without hassle. It was a good strategy, if a little predictable. What kind of farm hand would just randomly challenge a stranger to a challenge. How could he think this wouldn't rouse suspicion? These were questions that the supposed farmhand next to him probably didn't consider which would eventually lead to his downfall. Before the farmhand could recover from his laughter, Vincent covered his fists in an invisible barrier of mana so that he could actually punch the rock without hurting himself; this magical barrier would be the only magic he used in this "test of strength." He began to punch the large rock in a crouched stance, punching it with his left hand, then his right, and then his left again. This process continued while the farm hand got his bearings and finally decided to start beating the smaller rock with the rusty iron shovel.

Sure enough, the large boulder began to crack while the smaller, brittle boulder was just beginning to have pieces of it knocked away. The farm hand heard the cracking of Vincent's rock and couldn't believe his eyes when a crack began forming at its center and proliferated outwards. The wizard's opponent began to frantically bash the much smaller rock with the flimsy shovel to try and catch up, but instead caused the metal spade portion of the shovel to go flying away from the two men. Right after this little mishap on the part of the farmhand, Vincent's boulder could no longer take the force of the blows and broke apart while the smaller, brittle rock remained intact. Dumbfounded, the farmer walked up to Vincent and outstretched his hand. "Well, even without any of yer fancy magic you still managed to best me. You truly are the stronger man. Aren't you tired after all that punchin'?" he asked, suspiciously concerned with Vincent's current stamina. "Oh yeah, I'm tired. I think I'll just sit down and rest until I've gotten my energy back." he said, grabbing the farmhand's hand shaking it once without letting go.

WC: 1027/3000

"Oh that's jus' fahn. I kin git you some water if you'd like." Vincent shook his head before letting go of the farmhand's hand. In that instant, the farmhand whistled and a group of individuals wearing bandanas to cover their face emerged from behind nearby bushes. The wizard looked around and counted them up. There were about ten. "I'm the leader of these vigilantes and I'm only going to politely ask you once to fork over all of your jewels as a sort of... donation to our cause." the "farmhand" said as he put his thumbs under his suspenders, pulled them forward, and snapped them back. The wizard shook his head. "I wasn't expecting so many, but ten bandits shouldn't be too much trouble if they don't have any magic." he thought aloud before crouching down into a more stable stance. "You think you can-" Before the leader could finish taunting him, Vincent had already punched the man as hard as he could in the diaphragm, causing him to fall to his knees and then onto his side as he struggled to catch his breath.

All of the bandits surrounding him widened their eyes and took a step back out of what the Crystal Swan wizard presumed to be fear. "There, I disabled your leader. Will the rest of you come peacefully or are you going to make me run after all of you?" The bandits looked at each other nervously as if unsure whether or not this wizard before them was bluffing and simply got a lucky hit on their unsuspecting leader. Eventually, one of them piped up: "You just got a lucky hit! There's no way that you can take us all after having punched your way through that boulder! We're not afraid of you!" Vincent sighed. The bandit was right, he was tired, but he wasn't so tired that he couldn't deal with a group of annoying ruffians if they forced his hand. "Are you sure that you don't want to reconsider? I don't particularly enjoy fighting." And are all obviously outmatched... Vincent only thought that last part so that he wouldn't antagonize the bandits even more than he had already.

The bandit who had spoken out against him didn't hesitate before pulling out a pistol and firing a round at him. Vincent held his fist towards the bullet and the projectile bounced off into the ground, leaving the bandit dumbfounded. Before he could recover from his shock, the wizard had burst forward into a sprint before leaping into the air and landing on the man's face with both of his feet, driving the back of his head into the ground and knocking out out. Nine. "There. Is your loyalty to your gang strong enough to willingly come into conflict with a strong guild mage? I'm sure my prowess is more than clear at this point." The next bandit to make a move was the one over his right shoulder who donned a two-handed portable cannon. A heavy gust blew threw the plains on the way to Hargeon Town and Vincent looked into the eyes of the cannoneer from his position, hoping he'd get the hint.

WC: 1557/3000

The second that the cannoneer fired off a steel explosive from inside his weapon, Vincent stepped to the side and sprinted towards the offender. If he was using a normal weapon he would be able to fire off another shot before I could close the gap... he thought, watching at the man frantically tried to reload his weapon from a crouched position. But cannons take a bit longer to reload. His knee collided with the man's chin, sending him a few feet back away from his weapon. Especially under stress. The cannon ball passed where Vincent was standing and crushed through a lone tree that had once given shade to the bandit ringleader. "Alright. There are eight of you left. Your friend here has a fractured jaw, your leader is still trying to catch his breath, and your dead eye is unconscious. Just drop your weapons and come with me before anyone else has to sustain grievous harm." The eight men around him looked at each other nervously - it seems they weren't used to being so outmatched nor being shown any kind of mercy from guild mages.

Finally, as he asked, they dropped their weapons and decided to come quietly. "Good, we're starting to act reasonably around here. You, pick up your leader, and you two pick up your injured comrades" he said, pointing out three of the bandits that appeared to be the most physically capable. "All of you come with me to the nearest Rune Knight outpost. If you try running then you'll get to see what kind of magic I wield." They were just reminded that he had not used his magic at all and thus the threat of seeing it was enough to keep them from trying to run away. I suppose the bandits figured that it's better to get turned in unharmed. Good. Bloodshed is so distasteful. As much as Vincent liked to consider fighting beneath him and a poor solution to any problem, his time in the Pergrande Kingdom had created a small passion for dueling within him. Getting robbed, though, didn't exactly fall under a duel between two honorable opponents.

Not only dueling, but fighting monsters was also beginning to grow up him. Using his magic to dispatch foes that stand ten times his own height was quite an exciting undertaking and he secretly hoped that there would be beasts to try and stop him and Elvira from either finding Zenshin or dispelling their curse, though he would never admit it. Eventually, the crowd got to Hargeon Town and Vincent found himself speaking to a Rune Knight officer. "Yes, this band of highwaymen tried to rob me after a rather transparent attempt to tire me out. And... that one there is their leader." he said, pointing to the only one dressed in overalls. "...And you got them all to come quietly? There must be a dozen of them." The Rune Knight must not have really pieced together what bodies draped over shoulders meant. "They didn't all come quietly, as you can see. I had to show them just how outmatched they were before persuading them to come along to turn themselves in. They didn't think they could get away from me." he responded, taking a clipboard from the Rune Knight.

WC: 2106/3000

Name. Vincent Gauss. Guild. Crystal Swan. Description of incident. Band of about ten highwaymen tried to rob me. I injured three of them before the rest surrendered and followed me to the Rune Knight outpost located in Hargeon Town. One by one Vincent filled out the lines of paperwork associated with the kind of arrest that he had performed in the outskirts of the town. Many complained of the vast amounts of paperwork expected of legal mages, but this was honestly nothing compared to the writing he had to do while learning his magic. He needed to write pages upon pages of detailed reports including but not limited to the kinds of materials he was using, the purpose of his experiments and the nature of the magics involved. Filling out this information was a refreshing change from what he was used to. Hopefully Rin hasn't arrived yet; it would be quite embarrassing to be late for a job with such a prominent member of the guild the wizard thought as he walked towards the docks of the town. Thankfully he didn't see the woman who provided his partner with a home.

Good, she's not here. I suppose I should look for the captain of the ship that's going to take us to Enca, then. One by one, the mage from Crystal Swan inspected the docks until he found a ship with a proper sea captain standing at the bow of the ship. He looked off into the crystal clear ocean to where it met with the horizon. The captain seemed eager, though still reserved. "Captain Donnager! Is this your vessel?" the wizard said, waving towards the captain whose hands were clasped behind his back. A curved sword was at his side and Vincent wondered if he had ever needed to use it. The captain turned around and nodded once towards the wizard before stepping onto the docks to greet him. Greet was a rather strong word, the captain merely acknowledged the presence of his client before turning back in the direction of the ocean.

The wizard only knew of the captain through reputation. Joseph, the owner of a fine eatery open twenty-four hours a day, had recommended Captain Donnager because he could "sail a canoe through a monsoon." Vincent trusted Joseph, or Jo as he would prefer to be called, with his life and didn't hesitate to track down this master Captain after Jo's recommendation. "Here, I have your payment ready in advance." he said as he put out his hand in which a hefty bag of jewels could be found. Captain Donnager turned to face the white haired wizard and shook his head. "Would you prefer that I paid you after the job is done?" Once again, the Captain shook his head. "Is this as a favor to Joseph, then?" The Captain nodded.

WC: 2581/3000

Of course, a favor to Joseph. I should have asked that old chef why he recommended Captain Donnager of all people. I'm not surprised that the Captain feels like he owes something to Joseph given the quick recommendation. I'll have to thank Joseph when we return from Enca. "Hey Captain, would you be opposed if I looked around the ship? Not much to do while Rin arrives." The Captain held his arm out as if to say "go ahead," but, of course, said nothing. Vincent took this vague gesture to mean that Captain Donnager was fine with him inspecting the ship, so he walked on the plank between the vessel and the dock and began to examine the different parts of the boat. The mast in the center had four furled canvas sail and a pair of rope nets leading to a crow's nest. There were two additional masts at the helm of the ship and further up on the bow. A bowsprit extended far beyond the front of the ship with ropes connecting the piece to the front most mast.

Vincent was quite unfamiliar with the practice of sailing as a whole, but knew enough to point out the different pieces of the ship. Everything seemed to be in working order and the boat itself seemed to be crafted from an exotic kind of wood. Must've been quite an expensive ship to have been made from the wood of faraway lands... mused the mage as he made his way to the stern. He tried to open the door to the great cabin which Captain Donnager used as his private studies, but to no avail. The door was locked and there was no getting inside without the use of his magic. The wizard looked behind me to see a disapproving stare from the Captain. I'm suppose that he's the only one allowed in the great cabin. Understandable, if a little frustrating. I wonder what kind of secrets a terse and reliable ship captain would hide in his most private chamber. The Crystal Swan wizard always observed the law of the land, but the hardest temptation to resist was that of breaking into locked rooms or chests to see what kind of secrets lie inside. With a sigh, Vincent walked back towards the dock and stood beside the captain to gaze off into the horizon. When Captain Donnager saw that Vincent was content with the state of the ship, he walked back to his vessel and began to prepare to set sail. The two knew that the second passenger would be arriving shortly.

WC: 3014/3000

The member 'King Zenshin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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