Keo pointed at his map and then pointed northwest. "That way, the gilded groves await us." He spoke. Keo began explaining the plan. "So, we can't just search every grotto willy-nilly, hoping for one of them to be the "Treasures Keep", but I have a plan. The other day, my father, Sholventus gifted me this item, the "Locatia. He told me that, if it enters five grottos and finds the most valuable treasures in each one, it will reveal the way to the Treasures Keep." Keo explained. "So, we just walk around and enter these grottos. Then we go into the big treasure grotto and snatch the artifact? Easy peasy!" Avi exclaimed. "Hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, which I don't expect. The Gilded Groves are known to be highly peaceful, with not a single life lost in exploration of its outer reaches." Keo said.
Rei stopped for a second and noticed a golden blade of grass. But before saying anything about it, he asked… "And what about the INNER reaches? Did everyone there make it out alive?" Rei questioned. "We can't know, some knights who entered deeper into the groves, never returned, and the ones that did, couldn't remember a thing." Keo answered, "Well, THAT'S reassuring!" Rei said, frustratedly. "Whoa, look at that!" Avi said, pointing at the golden fields in front of them. The fields looked like they were going on forever, with mountainous peaks visible far away. Vines were hanging from many trees, the blades of grass were swaying in the cool breeze, and the sun was nestled in a blanket of clouds.
"And so… Rei and co.'s journey began. Will they be able to find all seven artifacts in time? Or will Ardonous destroy all of existence? Only time will tell…"
“AHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!” The rifted storm has RIPPED AWAY at the dimensional fabric! What? What's this? I can feel something coming from the sword… 3 Heroes have set out to stop me!? Nonsense! I shall dispose of them quickly with my Shaded Army. Using the excess life energy from the worthless individuals I "freed," I can create an unimaginably powerful army! I won't even have to lay a finger on these "heroes!" So… search for these artifacts all you want, but your precious Avindor is as good as doomed! Ahahahahah… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!”
"Wow! Look at how these fields go on! We have a lot of work to do…" Avi said, trying to see as far as she could. The three began searching for the grottos together. "So, how did you guys meet?" Rei asked. Avi began to talk, but Keo cut her off. "She just kinda… blew into town one day, and I helped her settle in. She told me she was amnesiac and went on a looooong journey to try to remember her past." Keo said. Avi put her hand on her hip. "Yeah! I really don't know a thing about myself; I even came up with my name as I couldn't remember a thing! Hopefully my old life wasn't TOO interesting, or I'd be missing out on some pretty cool stuff!" Avi exclaimed. "That's crazy… Hope you find out about your past soon." Rei said.
"Say, do you have any way of defending yourself?" Keo said. Rei looked down at himself and noticed he did not have a weapon. He was also still wearing a t-shirt, which was foreign attire in Avindor. "Uhh, no?" Rei responded. Avi and Keo both sighed, but before deciding to turn back, Keo pulled a scroll from his pouch and looked at a map. "There's a blacksmith located in the only settlement in the Gilded Groves. Oh yeah, there's a settlement, I forgot to mention that, it's not very developed, BUT it has shops and a place to stay, so we don't have to camp out every night." Keo said. "That's a relief!" Rei and Avi said in sync. "But! We should go there and fetch a sword and some new clothes for Rei, right!?" Avi asked. "Yup. Now we need to go this way to reach the town. It's not too far from here," Keo said, pointing in a direction. The three went in that direction, and the town came into view shortly after.
Rei, Avi, and Keo entered the town. An ambassador quickly greeted them. "Welcome to the Gilded Gateways! The gateway to all your Gilded Groves needs!" The ambassador said to them. "We're looking for a blacksmith and a clothing store," Keo said. The ambassador pointed in two directions with both arms, with a smile on his face. "The blacksmith is that way… and the clothing store is that-a-way. Happy trails!" The ambassador said. "Let's go to the clothing store first, I need some clothes to fit in around here," Rei said.
The three entered the clothing store, with Rei and Keo entering first and Avi following behind. "Hi! Welcome! What are you two looking for?" the Clerk said. Anything I can wear that looks normal around here," Rei said. Hmm… normal, normal, you aren't dressed normally. But I can fix that! Come this way!" The Clerk led Rei and Keo to a high-class clothing aisle, with Avi looking for clothes for herself.
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"So this… is the 'Hero's Wit, ' a cloak of greatest desire. I'll let you take a look at it." The Clerk said, with a smirk on his face. The cloak was white, with a light blue trim. The inner part of the cloak was also blue. It had a triangular white collar and also came with pants and boots. The pants were brown, and ever so slightly puffy, and the boots were a different shade of brown. Rei was impressed. "Well, take it!" He said. "Great! Now that'll be 5000 Shin." The Clerk said, holding his hand out. "F-f-five thousand what now?" Rei seemed puzzled, both by the high number and the strange currency. "Shin, the currency of Avindor. And that's way too expensive, we only have 300 on us." Keo said. "Well, sorry, folks! Then I can't sell you this one, BUT… I can sell you this!"
The Clerk presented a ragged, ripped cloak stained with several substances. "This is the… uhh… "Losers Wit!" Same as the Hero's wit, just cheap! For only 250 Shin!" He said. Rei covered his nose, as the cloak smelled terrible. He backed away. "Uhh, you sure you wanna buy that?" He said to Keo. The Clerk butted in and said "Of course you do! It's all you can afford, and I'm not gonna sell you high-class adventurers' wear for such a low price- oooooo LA LA" The Clerk was wooed as Avi walked up to him. "I found this cool dress that I'll probably never wear, and this swimsuit for when we inevitably go to the Starlight Tropics, how much are they together? Wait a minute, Rei! Why are you buying this!?" Avi questioned, surprised.
Rei answered with. "This bozo offered us this really cool attire and tried to charge us 5000 Shin," Rei said. "Y-you guys are t-together? I'll… uh... give you the uh… DEAL OF THE BEAUTS!! 150 Shin! My only and final deal!" The Clerk said, his face turning red. “(S-shes just my type…)” The Clerk said under his lips. Avi approached him and bent forward. "Just your type!? I'm no one's girl! And how I look is no reason to drop a price! Say… what are you looking at anyway? Up here, mister!" Avi said, as the Clerk couldn't get his eyes off Avi's chest. Keo covered his eyes. “(Good thing I didn’t say anything about that last night, she seems kinda naughty when it comes to that stuff. And blissfully unaware.)” Rei thought to himself. He reached into Keo's pouch and took out 150 shin, without a second thought. He put the coins in the nearby till, took the high-class clothing, and left. "W-wait up!" Keo said, stumbling behind him. They exited the store, leaving Avi behind to argue.
"Score! 5000 shin worth of clothing for just half… our money. Oops." Rei said. "What were you thinking! You already had clothes, but now we probably can't even afford a sword. Where the heck is Avi!?" Keo growled. Rei shook his head. The two stood outside for nearly an hour, until Avi walked out of the store, with an egregious amount of clothing she seemingly received for free. Her face was lit up red. The Clerk put his head out the door and said, "Come back soon! I uh… NEED MORE OF YOU!!!! AVI!!! MY WIIIIIIIIIFE!!!!!!” He yelled. Rei and Keo quickly realized what was happening, grabbed Avi, and ran away, with Avi somehow managing to carry all her new clothes.
"Uhh… l-lets never go back there. Ever again." Avi said nervously. "Agreed," Keo said. Rei looked around and quickly found a sign pointing towards the blacksmith. "Let's just get me a sword and be on our way…" Rei said. The three followed the sign to the blacksmith, and when they arrived, Rei said, "Let's go in WITHOUT Avi, ok?" Keo responded, "That seems like a good idea," he said, following Rei inside the building. Avi stood outside with her arms crossed in frustration.
"Need a weapon to defend yourself from the baddies!? Need to fend off the bad guys!?" The "Blacksmith" said. "Great, it's this guy again!" Rei said. "Now, where is Avi? I wasn't done with her, I was about to give her even more 'free stuff!" The Clerk said. "Do you run every store in this town?" Keo asked. "I am the only person left in this town; the others ran away for some stupid reason! Pfft! Losers!" The Clerk responded. "Ardonous must be behind this, but this guy still sucks here just take our shin we'll get out of your way." Rei threw 100 Shin and grabbed the closest sword to him, and ran out of the store with Keo following behind. "We need to go; it's the same guy, and he's not done with you," Rei told Avi. Avi quickly dashed without a second thought, and Rei and Keo followed her. They made it out of town and explained to her what was happening.
"So, the others were evacuating… and that guy was just too stupid to leave?" Avi asked. "Yup," Rei said. He unsheathed his new sword and examined it. "Hey! This thing is rusted!" He said, frustrated. "I was trying to tell you to look closer at what you were buying… but then again, we had to get out of there. Whatever, it's a sword, it works." Keo said. "Shouldn't we start looking for those grottos? We're all set now!" Avi asked. "Yeah, we should, let's get moving." The three started walking as Avi thought about where they would sleep at night.
As the sun started to go down, the three continued on in hopes of finding a grotto. "Wow, this place sure is vast. You'd think these things would be pretty common…" Avi said, looking around. Keo pointed at a grotto and spoke. "They are common, just concealed, and you're bad at looking at things closely, Avi." "Hey!!" Avi yelled back.
