DEGARUTA! Episode 03

DEGARUTA! Episode 03: Our Journey Begins! The First Quest is “Don't Die”

  Having compared notes on the days activities the night before, Xavier and Mike are both disturbed by the sudden appearance of the entity known as Truck-san, and even more so by its ability to teleport and warp space. However the decide to ignore it as they will be departing tomorrow on the first quest of their Journey, to escort a caravan of merchants to the neighboring city of Doskel.

	The next day, both Adventurers are now kitted out and equipped with respect to their chosen guild vocations (job classes). Mike is a magical knight with some low level spells to support a mean offense and sturdy defense, Xavier is a quick but nimble thief with specialty tools for disarming locks and basic traps. They are not well balanced, but decently balanced. The King and princesses see them both of as they depart, both of them promising to return to claim the royal booty they were both promised.

	As they journey towards Doskel, the 2 make conversation with several of the other adventurers, 2 in particular begin taking a shine to our heroes.  Among them are the legendary traveling Sword-Master Zentaro, a grey bearded veteran of many wars and conflicts, and the beautiful and devout Paladin Erica Silverthread. After a few nights of camping, it becomes apparent to the two seasoned travelers that our Heroes have no clue what they are doing, fighting or otherwise, and have largely been going with the flow or using royal authority to bypass difficult questions. Our heroes hang their heads in shame and depression at their inability to save the world like they were summoned to do, however Zentaro and Erica both agree to help the 2 heroes by sparring with them and training them at least until they can stand on their own. Erica asks if she can come with them on their journey after learning they were summoned from another world directly by the king, a power which is granted by the blessings of the god she serves.

	During the night, Brigands attack and our heroes get their first taste of combat. The caravan is brought to a halt as the bandits use some form of trickery to disturb the Adventurers formation and keep the defenders scattered. Mike and Xavier taste first blood, but it is bitter sweet as the reality they face dawns upon them, but they still willfully ignore it for the most part. Unable to overcome the strange strategy being implemented all seems lost, suddenly Mike is overcome with an abundance of information that he should not actually have. This appears to be the activation of Mike's Cheat Skill: Moderately Informed which grants him an absurd amount of information on an incredible vast and absurd number of topics, but only to a slightly intermediate degree.

	Mike reveals that the method the Bandits are using to disrupt the formation is a combination of Shadow magic, doubles, scaled down mechanical weapons, and good old misdirection, however his skill does not inform him of how to deal with it. Casting defensive spells he and Erica charge the bandits, while Xavier and Zentaro attempt to fight them off, Xavier in the middle of his fight tries several tools he had developed for the adventure, smoke bombs loaded with spicy seasonings, the bandits soon succumb to his dickish tomfoolery.

	As the night draws to an end and the dawn breaks, the Adventures are safe and the brigands are defeated (dead or captured). They are just over a day's march away from Doskel, but the 4 agree that they made a pretty decent team. Zentaro asks how they plan to stop the Demon Lord and his armies, our heroes reply that they do not know, dejectedly. Zentaro smiles and agrees to accompany them on their journey, to aid them, but also to train them to fight as he sees potential in them. This of course is not true and he is just being nice, truthfully he wants to train them so there is less of a chance that they'll get themselves killed, and if they were summoned specifically to defeat the Demon Lord, then surely they have some diving power granted to them that will aid in this task.

	The Party now includes the Thief, the Spell Knight, the Paladin, and the Sword-Master, they enter the city of Doskel, unaware that the first true trial of their journey is right around the corner.