Chapter 2

Juxapose, Ryuker, Artisan, and Bowen celebrate their new party member at a tavern in Prontera. Although the others are drinking beer and wine, Juxapose opens another bottle of milk, and drinks it as fast as he possibly can. The others stare as he drinks his bottle of milk.

Juxapose then slams the empty bottle on the table and says cheerfully, "Ahh! That's good milk! Another round please!"

"That is your fifteenth bottle since we got here." commented Artisan. "Do you honestly love milk that much?"

"Of course! Milk is the best, and it's so good for you!" answered Juxapose

"You wont catch me drinking milk any time soon."

"Why not?" asked Juxapose.

"Well, when was the last time you saw a cow?" Artisan asked.

"Cow?"

Ryuker thinks for a moment and says, "Now that I think about it. Haven't cows been extinct for almost 500 years?"

After Ryuker's last comment to take the empty bottles of milk, The waitress arrives and lays another cold bottle of milk on the table. Juxapose then curiously asks the waitress, "Excuse me miss. Where does the milk you sell come from?"

"I don't know, I just serve it." she answered.

Ryuker, Artisan, and Bowen starts to laugh, and Juxapose pushes the milk bottle away from him. "This is the last time I drink milk."

After they paid the bill, the team heads to the weapon/armor shop. Since Aritsan is new to the party, the other party members already know that he may be a bit underequipped for any future adventures.

Juxapose then says, "OK, it's time to gear up our newest member of our party. Ryuker, appraise him!"

Ryuker then circles Artisan a few times taking notes on all his current equipment. After he fully appraises him, he says, "Let's see here. . . I see a wooden armor, sword, guard, sandals, and a hood."

"That is the most pathetic set of gear I've ever heard on a swordman!" Mocked Juxapose. "Ok Ryuker, go work your magic at the owner."

"OK!" said Ryuker as he rubs his hands together in delight. He then heads over to the counter where he greets the armor dealer.

"Good afternoon, how can I help you?" greets the shop owner.

"Hi there. We need some armor for our friend who is a swordman. But he's a little bit new, so how about giving us a hand, and give us a small discount?"

"Why is he telling him all that?" whispered Artisan.

Juxapose whispers back, "Don't worry about it so much. He has a talent called 'Discount', where he convinces the shop owners to give us a discount on just about anything."

"Oh, I see."

Ryuker spends a few good minutes chatting with the armor dealer. After he's done, he pays for the armor and loads the goods in his cart. He then joins the rest of the party and says, "Great news, I was able to get us some armor. Pretty cheap too, 24% discount if we buy the set."

"What did you get?" asked Bowen.

Ryuker answers, "I got a chainmail, shield, boots, muffler, and a helmet. Just perfect for a swordman in training."

"Wow, you really got all that?" asked Artisan. Ryuker nods proudly at his accomplishment. "Thank you everyone!"

Juxapose nods and says, "Don't worry about it. Besides, what good is a swordman without good armor?"

Artisan then changes into his new armor. He feels very good wearing a steel chain mail, a real helmet, a large shield, and a pair of real boots. He feels like a knight instead of a sworman at that time. Afterwards, Ryuker used his discount skill to get him a cheap saber. Even though it's a common sword, it's much better than the sword that he was carrying around before. Now that Artisan is completely geared up, they leave the shop to find their first adventure.

As they travel around Prontera randomly, Bowen asks, "So, where are we going? Now that we have a new member, maybe we should think about training somewhere tougher."

"Don't worry, I'm sure the next adventure is going to find us." answered Juxapose.

Suddenly, a horn can be heard from the center of Prontera. Seeing that it may be a perfect chance to go on an adventure, they all follow the sound of the horn towards the center of Prontera. A Prontera guard is standning in front of a statue of the god of war Odin trying to get every adventurer's attention.

The Prontera guard then unrolled a scroll and announces, "Attention adventurers of Rune-Midgard! King Tristam III has an important job for anyone who is willing to accept it! The Prontera culverts seems to be blocked up, and limited water supply has been reaching the citizens of Prontera! We sent a research team to see what is going on, but they haven't arrived back with any news yet! Will anyone take the job to see what's going on in the culverts? King Tristam III will pay handsomely for a job well done. We will also supply some wares for your adventure at no cost to you."

The entire city laughs. A local merchant tells the guard, "Are you kidding? That place is a noob farm! Only a novice would happily go there!"

A random novice then says, "Yeah, right. That place is too easy for even me."

Artisan thought for a moment. He then whispers to his party, "Why don't we take the job?"

"Are you crazy? If we go, we'll be the laughing stock of Prontera." answered Bowen.

"I think it's a good idea." said Juxapose.

"Why?" whined Bowen and Ryuker.

Juxapose smiles slyly and says, "Yeah, I know that Prontera culverts is a noob farm, but King Tristam III always pays good. Since it's so easy, we could get paid, and be home before dinner time."

Artisan approaches the Prontera guard and says, "We'll take the job!"

"Who's the leader of your team?" asked the Prontera guard.

Juxapose approaches the guard and says, "I am!"

The Prontera guard then hands him some forms to fill out. He then tells Juxapose, "OK, just as promised, here are some supplies. 10 red potions, 5 orange potions, a green potion, and 5,000 zenny. I need you all to sign here." Even though the team can hear the laughing and mocking of the citizens of Prontera, Juxapose happily ignores them and continues to sign the forms. "OK! Take this copy to the gate keeper of the culverts, and report to me when you've cleared it."

After getting the documents they need to go to the culverts, they march to the outskirts of Prontera, and arrive at the entrance with no incident. After showing the proper paperwork to the guard, they all go inside inside and begin their adventure.

Inside the culverts is a complex sewer system underneath Prontera. All they find in the sewers are a bunch of rats called Tarou, and some small insects called thief bugs. There is a rancid smell coming from the waterways in the sewers, so the team tries to walk through as quickly as they can before they pass out from the foul smell.

Artisan dares to ask, "Why is the water so polluted in here?"

"Don't ask. There are about 10,000 people living in Prontera, and the toilets have to lead somewhere." answered Juxapose.

Artisan sighs and says, "Never mind. . ."

They continue through the sewer pipes of the Culverts. Deep in the culverts, they find some steps that lead deep into the pipes underneath the city of Prontera. Just as the guard mentions, there is no water in the pipes. The pipes are heavily populated by the insects and rats, along with some mushroom-like monsters called spores. They just passed through trying to avoid killing anything. That is until a thiefbug stops in front of Artisan.

"Yuck, I hate insects!" yelled Artisan. He then steps on the thiefbug, killing it instantly. The loud crushing sound fills the sewers. Juxapose, Ryuker, and Bowen stops, and turn around nervously. They all had a shocked look on all of their faces.

"What did you do!?" asked Juxapose.

Artisan answers "What? I just stepped on a bug."

Suddenly, a disturbing loud noise can be heard from behind Artisan. He turns around, and sees about 100 thief bugs are approaching them, none of them are happy.

Juxapose knows that even though the insects are normally passive, they turn highly agressive as soon as you kill one of their own. He then yells, "Oh crap. RUN!!"

The team runs as fast as they can deeper into the pipes of the culvert. But as they run, the other insects they pass also join in on the hunt. But as they run, little by little the thiefbugs were catching up to them. Artisan, who is wearing all his new heavy armor, can not run as fast as the rest of the team. So little by little, the rest of the team are leaving him behind.

Bowen looks back and says, "Guys! We are leaving Artisan behind!"

Ryuker and Juxapose stops and says, "We have no choice, we have to turn back and fight!"

The team turns around, and start spamming their skills like crazy.

Ryuker casts Cart Revolution, and slams his cart against the opposing insects. Artisan casts Magnum Break, and drives his blade into the ground causing a firey explosion. Bowen raises his bow into the air and casts Arrow Shower which rains arrows on the insects. By now, there are few insects left, so Juxapose casts Envenom on the remaining thief bugs. After that, they finally defeated all the thief bugs. But the battle leaves them weary, and they have to sit and rest after that hard battle.

As they sit and catch their breath, Juxapose looks at Artisan and says "Hey Artisan?"

"Yes?"

"Don't ever do that again. It would be embarrassing to die in this noob farm."

"How was I supposed to know that the bugs would react that way?" asked Artisan.

Bowen jumps in and says, "Just forget about it. Lets just clear the culverts, and get out of here!"

The team then continues to move along through the culverts after their rest. After getting through the thiefbugs, they finally reached the end of the sewers. They find the gates to the water channels locked up, which explains why there is no water going to Prontera.

Juxapose runs ahead to the locked gate and says, "Check this out. The gates of the sewers are locked!"

Ryuker then examines the dead bodies and says, "That's not all. There are dead bodies here. I wonder what happened to them?"

Juxapose laughs and continues, "Don't worry about them. They were probably weak, so they probably got killed by some drainliars or something." He then examines the gate, and finds a crank on the left side. "Now, lets see. . . I bet if I turn this crank, it'll open the water channel."

Juxapose turns the crank, and the water channel begins to open. However, as the channel opens little by little, they all see something horrid in the other side waiting for Juxapose to open.

Artisan trembles and says, "Uhh. . . Juxapose?"

"Don't worry. . . I'll have this open in a jiffy." said Juxapose as he continues to open the channel.

Bowen trembles and says, "Juxapose. . ."

"After we get back, we'll get paid lots of moolah. We'll be able to eat freely for weeks." said Juxapose as the gate is about to be fully opened.

"JUXAPOSE!!!" yelled Ryuker.

"What is it?"

Artisan, Bowen, and Ryuker points at the open gate and yells, "THAT!!!"

On the other side of the open gate, there is a golden colored giant bug. The bug is over twice as tall as Juxapose is tall, and over 20 feet in length. As the team trembles in front of the giant sized insect, it lets out a loud roar showing that it's a highly agressive monster.

Juxapose sweats heavily as he says, "I think we're in trouble. . . RUN!!"

All 4 team members run as fast as they can, but the golden thiefbug is much faster.

Ryuker looks back at the raging insect and yellss, "We can't outrun it, we'll have to escape! Let me pass out the butterfly wings!"

Artisan yells back, "By the time you pass out the wings, we'll all be dead! We have no other choice. We'll fight it!"

Artisan turns around, and draws his sword. However, before he gets a good swing, the golden thiefbug tackles him, sending him flying against the wall.

Juxapose follows Artisan's advice and commands, "Bowen, cover me! Ryuker, help Artisan."

"Roger!" replied Ryuker and Bowen.

Ryuker runs towards Artisan while the other two challenges the golden thiefbug. Ryuker then uses some potions on Artisan and says, "Are you OK?"

Artisan stands up nearly stumbling and says, "I'll be fine. . . Just need another potion."

Ryuker hands him a potion from his cart and says "Quickly, drink this orange potion."

As Artisan heals himself, Juxapose and Bowen were busy with the golden thiefbug. Juxapose jumped on top if it, and tried to stab it, but the golden thiefbug's hide is too thick. Bowen's arrows are not doing anything to the giant bug either. "Damn, my arrows are not doing anything to it. . . Maybe if I use these. . ." said Bowen as he takes out some sharp arrows that he crafted earlier.

Bowen then yells, "Double Strafe!" as he launches two arrows at the same time at the insect. The arrows are able to crack through the golden thief bug's tough armor. The giant golden bug lets out a loud screech, and tried to retaliate by tackling Bowen. Because Bowen wears light armor, he is able to jump out of the way, and the golden thiefbug hit a wall instead. Juxapose falls off the golden thiefbug, and lands safely on the floor. The golden thiefbug then tries to attack Juxapose, but Ryuker attacks it first with a Mamonite.

At this point, the golden thief bug is very angry now, so it tackles Ryuker. The blow is too strong for Ryuker to take, so he passes out. Artisan had a trick up his sleeve, so before the golden thief bug finishes Ryuker, he casts his Provoke skill. A jester like shadow jumps on the golden thiefbug's head, and annoys the giant bug. The golden thief bug is now furious, it's eyes are glowing red as he looks at Artisan.

"That's right. . . Come at me!" Artisan yells provoking the monster even further.

"No! Artisan! You'll be killed!" yelled Juxapose. He wants to help, but he is too far away to help him.

The golden thiefbug charges as fast as it could in order to take Artisan down in a single blow. But Artisan uses his new shield to block it's attack. The shield was angled so the Golden thiefbug would turn over, and with a big push it rolls on it's back. Artisan then jumps on it's soft belly, and stabs through it's heart. The golden thief bug is now dead.

Now that the threat is over, Artisan sits down to restore his strength. Using a Yggdrasil leaf, Ryuker came to, and sees the bug defeated. They all gather around Artisan, and Juxapose cheers, "Artisan, you defeated the monster!"

Artisan takes a deep breath and says, "It was nothing. . . But what about Ryuker? Is he going to be Okay?"

"Don't worry I'm fine. I had a Yggdrasil Leaf." answered Ryuker.

After Artisan regains his energy, they examine the bug for the spoils of battle.

Bowen asks, "Were you able to steal anything Juxapose?"

"You bet I did!" answered Juxapose. He then shows the team what he got from the golden thiefbug. A card with the image of the bug they defeated that he was able to steal while he was on it's back.

Ryuker nearly passes out from shock as he says, "NO WAY!!! You stole the card!"

Juxapose smiles as he says "Yes, nothing goes through Juxapose's nimble fingers!"

Ryuker then examines the dead bug. He gasps and says, "Check this out! The bug's shell is made out of pure gold. We're RICH!!!"

After jumping for joy, the team takes the bug's hide, and whatever else they could get from the bug, and leaves the culverts. Back in Prontera, King Tristam III paid the team 20,000 zenny for their hard work in the sewers. They also took the gold to the closest shop they can find, and exchanged the hide for 50,000 more zenny.

With pockets full of money, the team goes back to the tavern, and had lots of meat and drinks. Juxapose avoided any milk on the menu. Everyone raises their cups and yells, "Cheers!"

Juxapose takes a long drink of wine for the first time in a while, and yells, "Haha, great job team! Thanks to our newest member, we now can afford to eat extremely well for a long time!"

Artisan's face turned red in embarassment and says, "We all defeated that monster, not just me."

Juxapose then turns to Ryuker, and asks, "By the way, how much do you think we could sell this card for?"

Ryuker starts punching in numbers in his calculater, then laughs, "I don't know. My calculator doesn't have enough digits."

Juxapose, and Bowen laughs and yells, "HAHAHAHA!! Good joke."

"Actually, I was wondering if we could keep it instead." Artisan suggested.

Juxapose asks, "Really? Why?"

Artisan explains, "I was reading the description, and it sounds very useful for future adventures."

Juxapose thinks for a moment, and asks Ryuker for an opinion. "What do you say Ryuker?"

Ryuker checks his numbers and says, "We made more than enough zenny with all that gold and reward money. We wont need to sell it."

Juxapose nods and concludes, "Fine. We'll keep it."

Everyone then yells, "Cheers!"

And so, their fist adventure as a team is over and done. Even though they all were only inches away from losing their lives, they had a lot of fun, and were handsomely rewarded. What other adventures will they go through next?