Name/Pseudonym: {Thomas Radio}
Contact Info: {Discord : Thomas Radio#0749 | Twitter : @Thetrueastwest}
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The Explorers 5
The party had no idea how their quest began but none of them contested the provenance of their adventure. It seemed apparent that the unlikely couplings of an Octo from the deep seas who befriended a Golem from the high mountains, and an Undead who was travelling with a Goblin, would converge at the foot of the volcanic home of a Flames druid, and the five of them would decide to take the world (and its Loot) by storm.
Explorers are not ones to question their origins either, having curious conceptions from before records were kept. There are many speculations about the more magical occupants of the Realms. Scholars of Kaii theorise the Explorers came into existence due to some magical occurrence. Perhaps a spell that went wrong gave life to these new beings. Races like Beasts, Naturals, Noctii, and Deeptides all began adorning themselves with Loot they’ve come across. Or possibly, the Loot itself breathed magics into its surroundings and brought forth new life.
There are some more learned Explorers, but the party has a solitary goal on its plate. Live laugh love loot.
Yaios Vuur was coaxing the flames of a dying campfire by swishing their Bone Wand in soft rhythmic motions while whistling. Being of Flames themselves, their whistle harmonised with the licking of the sputtering blaze.
“I wish you wouldn’t wave that thing around me,” Qenoz Spinecrow said. “It makes my bones itch,” she shivered, “that could be my brother.”
“Do you even have a brother?” Lellun Brilken garbled, his tentacles making quick work of the rabbit leg they had cooked for dinner.
“Not that I know of.” They all laughed.
“I suppose we really don’t know much about each other,” Cartuq Ohmer said wistfully, waving his Ghost Wand in a similar motion to Yaios. This produced nothing as exciting or useful as a campfire but the shadows cast by it were manipulated into a synchronized dance of sorts.
“Better this way,” Idhas Corlax chimed in, sitting a few yards out sharpening her Scimitar. “Believe it or not but y’all are not the first party I’ve explored with.”
“Well, what happened to them?” Cartuq asked, rolling over onto his tummy to face her. But to this Idhas did not respond, and the hearth crackled on to fill the vast silence.
By morning, the fire was out but their spirit for adventure still burned brightly. Cartuq straightened his Crown, as the self-proclaimed leader of the troop he was serious about his openly declared responsibilities and was up at the crack of dawn trying to remember which way to go and had skipped breakfast.
“I say we head East, no West,” he indecisively spun between the two options. Qenoz put her hand on his shoulder and gently guided him North, the same direction the party was headed before they decided to rest for the night. The party started marching, not so much in any formation, a casual observer would say they were out for an early morning stroll where most of the participants looked rather beat. Yaios waved their wand once more and the ashes scattered in the wind, removing all traces of their being there.
It was unclear who they were hiding from but what was even more obscure was where they were going. All had come across their Loot separately and thoroughly bonded of this fact. And they all had a shared goal, which was to acquire more of it. But none so much had any inkling on how to do so. This led to a wandering party of Explorers all eager to hop down the rabbit hole of any conspiracy, myth, legend, tall tale, or rumour they came across. They managed to make a living and stay well fed, besides, Explorers don’t need much in the way of mortgages, but they still haven’t succeeded in attaining their most desired treasure, Loot.
“Maybe it’s all gone,” Lellun posited.
Cartuq stopped marching abruptly, leading to a small pile-on as the rest of the gang walked into his back.
“Hey, why’d you stop?” Qenoz picked herself off the floor, rubbing the space where her nose would be.
“Oh my goodness, what if it is all gone?!” Cartuq threw himself down on the dirt road like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
Idhas rolled her eyes. “Look at that, Qen… You got Car all riled up,” she crouched down offering her Sash to dry his tears.
“I mean think about it,” he blubbered. “All of us here have on as much Loot as we can carry. And there are like, a hundred people out there. What if all the Loot is gone?” He blew his snowy nose in the fabric.
“Well,” Yaios started, crouching down to be eye-level, “it would mean we’ve got more exploring to do besides looking for stuff we can take with us. I mean, look around you, there is beauty in everything we see.”
“You’re only saying that because you’re a druid,” Cartuq quibbled, rubbing his eyes and sniffling. “But I want something valuable,” he muttered.
“What is valuable is our time here, and we can invest it in exploring what this world has to offer us,” Yaios spoke with his heart and the other party members were onboard.
“There could be stuff better than Loot,” Lellun chimed in, “like hyperloot…”
Qenoz had hopped on a small boulder and was holding her hand over where her heart would be and proclaimed, “I know we started as Loot Explorers, but we have all the Realms to explore,” Qenoz gazed out far beyond the dirt path which would lead them through the woods; beyond the creeks and valleys, the rolling hills and towns, where the horizon dips beyond mountain peaks like treetops.
“We have the whole world.”