Core of Knowledge

Like most dwarves, Pos liked to think he was an understanding person. He would not call himself a kind dwarf, or even a good-natured one, but he understood how the world works.

The world was unfair.

Bad things happen to good people, the undeserving could get lucky, [Kings] played tricks to get out of paying the Classed what they deserved, and brave Classed die young. That was life. That was how the world works.

Getting angry about the unfairness of the world served no purpose, so dwarves seldom did it. No matter what the other species says, they don’t. Dwarves were too understanding for that. They may complain, they could whine, they would definitely grumble, but dwarves seldom get angry at the world. However, there were times when the unfairness of the world raked even his calm dwarven temper.

Today was one of those times.

When the first adventurers returned from the mass delve, they came back with a treasure. It was a narrow double-edged sword with a single grip that no one had ever seen before. The fact that the weapon was strange, new, and that it came from a dungeon made it valuable. Even if no one could use it, and that it was nothing but a ceremonial showpiece, the sword would sell for a lot of gold. The adventurers were set for life.

Pos survived his delve alone and got a Skill. Pos admit it was a good Skill, but it was a little useless as he could not use it unless he was near the dungeon. These adventurers went in a massive group and got a valuable weapon that could set them up for years. There was ‘the world was unfair’, and then there was this!

Pos couldn’t help but grumbled mentally as he watched the [Swordmaster] handle the strange weapon warily. The [Swordmaster] was an old human around sixty years of age, grey of hair with a well-trimmed goatee, and he had been hired by Claudio to make sense of the strange weapon. Interest was high, so the Adventurer Guild requested the [Swordmaster] to make it a public examination. The [Swordmaster] agreed.

Like most adventurers, Pos had been interested in what the adventurers found and came for the public examination. He wished he hadn’t. For the past hour, he had been watching the [Swordmaster] swinging the weapon around in various poses and moving his feet to see the best footwork to accompany the various strikes. The only interesting thing that had happened was when the [Swordmaster] struck the strange weapon with another sword to test the strength of the weapon. Pos never knew examination of a new weapon would be so boring, and he was certain he was not the only one who felt this way.

Held in the Adventurer’s Guild, there was a good number of people watching the [Swordmaster] and Pos could see bored faces all around him. Not everyone was an adventurer. Non-adventurers needed to pay a fee to enter, and they weren’t getting their money worth. A couple of more minutes and people were going to start leaving. Pos was thinking of following them.

Thankfully, the Guild Master came to his rescue.

“Master MacGregor, it has been over an hour. May we have your thoughts of this weapon? What do you think of it? Can it be used?”

The [Swordmaster] looked a little annoyed at the interruption before remembering the Guild Master was the one who hired him. Claudio was his employer for the day. Pos watched as Master Duncan MacGregor smoothed his face and stared straight-faced at Claudio.

“Guild Master, if you are asking if this is a real weapon, then the answer is ‘Yes’. This is not just some decorative showpiece; it is a real weapon.”

Several people began murmuring, but they all quieted down when Claudio raised his hand. “How certain are you? This weapon is like nothing I had ever seen.”

“Neither have I,” Master Duncan said with a wry smile. “But it is most definitely a sword.”

“How do we use it then? How do we fight with it?” Claudio asked, and Master Duncan’s eye lit up.

The [Swordmaster] did not answer, instead he simply twirled the sword. Pos watched as the sword made a figure of eight arc. The movement wasn’t all that unusual, most people could do it with the right weapon, but the arc the master made was fast. So fast that Pos could barely see it. Master Duncan then began…to dance.

The [Swordmaster] moved forward, backward, and sideways with smooth footwork, swinging, thrusting and parrying as if he was fighting an imaginary opponent. It was all fake, a practice exercise, but the way Master Duncan moved drew Pos in. The dwarf could easily see himself fighting someone using the same style as the [Swordmaster], and the dwarf did not like his chances. The [Swordmaster] was that fast.

The end came quickly. In one smooth movement, the [Swordmaster] bent low to duck beneath an imaginary swing, dropping to almost to one knee. Sidestepping his opponent, the [Swordmaster] almost glided past his imaginary opponent, giving his imaginary opponent a fatal slash to the body as he passed. The move was so smooth and fast, Pos would have missed it if he had blinked.

Master Duncan MacGregor, the [Swordmaster], then slowly stood. Holding the sword at his side, he took a steady breath, and it was clear that the demonstration was over. Pos felt he should clap and cheer but held himself in check when he saw that no one was clapping. Master Duncan began to explain how to use the sword.

“This sword was built for speed and agility, so the style best suited for it would be one based on speed and precision. The sword is lighter than the swords we usually use, and it has a thinner blade, so it was not advisable to use the sword to block attacks. Instead, anyone using this sword would need to use speed and footwork to evade and then attack with precise quick strikes. Of course, I only had this sword for an hour, so there may be other ways to use it. If anyone discovered a better or alternate method, please contact me. Personally, I would like to know more.”

Master Duncan finished his explanation with that caveat, but Pos did not hold out much hope. Master Duncan holds the [Swordmaster] class, which meant he was a master of the sword. All kinds of swords! If a [Swordmaster] says this new weapon was based around speed, then that’s the way it was. Nothing short of a revelation from the Gods was going to change that. At the end of his explanation, most of the adventurers began to cheer, and Pos half-heartedly followed.

After the demonstration, most of the adventurers stayed to discuss the sword, but Pos headed out the door. He had no wish or desire to discuss the new weapon because the information gained from the [Swordmaster] was bad news for him. Dwarves were short and stocky, and as a species they valued strength over speed, power over precision. Like most adventurers, Pos was proud of his strength of arms, but this strange sword from the dungeon was unsuitable for him. He hoped the next weapon the dungeon gives would be a more suitable weapon for him.

A few adventurers followed Pos out the door, and the dwarf directed his thoughts to the dungeon. It had been about a week since the mass delve, and the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques had been living up to its reputation as a strange dungeon. Not only had it gifted them the strange sword, but there was also a strange book as well.

[Storyteller]: Come Into My World.

When the adventuring party known as The Forevers came back with the treasure, it caused quite a stir. Dungeons had given books as treasures before, that was the reason adventurers gifted books to them as offering, but the Adventurer Guild was certain no one had offered such a book to the dungeon.

They were certain because there was no record of such a book.

Books detailing the ins-and-outs of a Class were not unheard of, and they were important. So important that all of them were recorded. Librarians, historians, and scholars had records of every such book in existence, but not one of them had even heard of a book about the [Storyteller] class.

Pos was not surprised.

Pos had never heard of the class, and according to the Adventurer Guild, the class was rare. Gifted by the Matron of Warmth, Gressian, the class was considered useless by most, but that might change with the book.