Image Information: Sporcle
After having quite possibly one of the worst days of Octavio's adventurous life, he was lost. He was lost mentally and physically with no means or purpose ahead. Having obtained the jewels and fortune from the giant's cave and a new weapon from the Sun God, truthfully Octavio could do everything he wanted. However, after losing all of his crew and with someone out to get him the circumstances were a bit different.
Octavio wanted more than anything to travel the world with his crew and conquer all things unexplained. Octavio left the cave with his rewards and began walking. He kept walking and walking until he truly was lost. It seemed he had lost all consciousness. When he came to he realized the place he was seemed so familiar, as he saw a statue of a Gargoyle which was the same from his memories. He remembered hearing a story of a place where all species of monsters and types of people were accepted and lived together. It was a place where people formed parties and did quests to earn experience. A place of magic, money, and battles, and the place was called the Dragon Kingdom of Lugnica.
Lugnica was a large nation and relatively peaceful. The peace was primarily maintained by the Lugnica family, one of the four great families of the realm. Upon realizing this was the place from his memories Octavio approached the gate entrance. When the gate opened Octavio witnessed a place of multiple races and individuals. Following his crew's terrible defeat Octavio did not know what to make of this new place. How could he enjoy such a place or even consider going on adventures and battling monsters?
Walking through the town Octavio stopped at the closest tavern which also served as a place to pick up quests and meet party members. Octavio had just begun to drink when he was interrupted by an argument starting at the bulletin where you find quests. He noticed a small girl arguing with what seemed to be a lizard person. Octavio was a curious person so the sight of the lizard person was not peculiar. The lizard person took the girl's coin pouch and began to leave the tavern. Before he could reach the door Octavio was standing in the doorway. Octavio asked for him to return the money to the girl and leave. The girl asked for Octavio to stop, telling him that you shouldn’t mess with Verin. Verin did not hesitate and drew his twin daggers at Octavio. Octavio did not flinch and let Verin strike him. Octavio with two daggers in his shoulders and blood running down his body grabbed the coin poach from Verin. Verin and everybody in the tavern were beyond surprised. Verin yelled, “Why would you not dodge?”
The headmaster of the tavern ordered Verin to leave and Octavio returned the purse to the girl. She turned to thank Octavio but before she could he was leaving the tavern. She ran after him and said he needed to come back and get bandaged. Octavio was still lost; he truly felt no pain despite his injuries. The girl grabbed something out of her bag and cast it at Octavio. The girl seemed to be a healer and she had cast what had looked to be some magical item. She healed Octavio's wounds and introduced herself as Silver Lugnica.
After healing Octavios wounds Silver says, "Now that I've healed your wounds I need you to help me with something." She wanted help with another quest. This quest in particular was to explore a dungeon and report what they find, otherwise a rather easy mission. Octavio could not turn down her offer after her healing his wounds. Upon arriving at the dungeon entrance they find Verin already there waiting for them. Apparently, he was waiting for them to arrive so he could apologize and help with their quest. Silver decided to allow him into their party, however, Octavio has already lost people he's cared about due to deception so he did not let his guard down.
Exploring the dungeon, Silver, Octavio, and Verin reached a dead end. It seemed as if there should have been more to explore in the dungeon. That's when Octavio noticed something off about the cave wall, he saw an odd-looking divot and decided to press against it. Pressing the divot opened up a secret entrance where they found themselves at what had seemed to be a den for some sort of monster. Silver immediately recognized that they had found themselves at the entrance of a notorious monster known for taking out low-level explorers. Its name was Fracayus and he was an ice-like monster known to freeze his enemies to death with one touch.
Author's Note: I decided to continue the story of Octavio following his battle with the giants. I wanted to make it a mystery who led the giants to the cave and have it revealed later. In the end, everything will connect back to Octavio's past. The continuation of the story leads Octavio to a place from a distant memory. He doesn't know how he remembers this place but vague images pop into his head. A lot of the background to this story comes from previous stories I have written where the main protagonist goes on quests fighting monsters and magic and working their way up in the world. One particular instance is from the Lang unit in the African Stories. In this story, Makoma acquires the ability to breathe fire after defeating a fire spirit, which is a lot like Octavio obtaining the fire sword from the Sun God. I hope to give Octavio the same ability, to be able to obtain the powers from the people he defeats. I left the story on a relative cliffhanger and plan to continue the story of Silver Lugnica and Octavio soon.
Bibliography: Homer's Odyssey Part A: The Land of the Cyclopses
African Stories (Lang) unit: Africa Makoma Contd.