[RPG] An Adventure Begins

[Peter Weisberg]

"If you ask me, only a damn fool goes out looking for trouble.  And I didn't
raise you to be a damn fool," Melissa Stone said to her son, Claud.

"It's my twentieth birthday, Mother.  If I decide to be a damn fool, there's
nothing you can do to stop me," Claud said with a slight grin.  "There's
good money in adventuring, and besides, somebody has to take care of these
monsters and undead roaming about."  Claud hefted the cheap but sturdy sword
he'd purchased with the money he'd been saving from doing odd jobs around
town.  "And it might as well be the soon-to-be finest swordsman in the Far
East!"

Melissa's stern face melted into a smile of amusement.  "Aye, that's my
son.  Always full of bravado, thinks he can do anything.  I swear, sometimes
you're just like your father."

Claud's face darkened.  "Don't talk about him now," he said.

Melissa's smile faded into an expression of sadness.  "He wasn't a bad man,
you're father--".

"No, of course not," Claus snapped.  He was just a noble.  Too good for the
likes of us.  Couldn't be seen with a little bastard running around with
him.  What would the neighbors think?"

"Claud..."

"Just stop, okay?  Let's talk about something else."  By force of will,
Claud brought the smile back to his face.  "I hear there's an undead king on
Beluaterra, with a vault that holds all the gold that rich men tried to take
with them when they died."

Melissa frowned.  "You're not going to Beluaterra, are you?  The seas this
time of year..."

"Don't worry, mother," Claud said.  "I couldn't afford a sea voyage even if
I wanted to.  Besides, I've got to get famous here first.  What good is it
if I'm the most famous guy on Beluaterra if none of the guys from Nocaneb
hear about it?  A man's got to impress his friends first, after all."  The
grin was back for real this time.

Melissa was smiling, too, but her face still had a hint of sadness.  "Be
careful," she said.

"I will, mother."

And after one last embrace Claud was on the road, off to seek his fortune
and find his own place in the world.
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