May 22nd

I received a text letting me know that they didn't go through with my plan at all. Which is fine by me, it was mostly designed to keep me out of the game while still fitting my character. I can't wait till next week so I can find out what they actually did decide to do. Until then I promised you one of Riley's other adventures.
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You want a story from my past? Are you sure? My stories don't contain love or bravery or happy endings like the ones the bards tell in the taverns. My stories are dark and full of blood, betrayal, sadness, and death. You really think you're up for it?

Before meeting up with this merry little band of adventures, I almost always worked alone. The singular exception to that rule was my first adventure. I had just been convinced to leave the arena and become a different type of hero, a hero for the people rather than a hero of battle. I had always wanted to do something good, to try and make sure at least someone's life would be happier than mine, but until Zanroar showed me the way I had no idea how to even begin doing good. I had built up enough of a reputation as a amazing fighter, that people were more than willing to send me out to hunt down monsters and bring back items. And lots of adventuring groups wanted me to join them. Back then it seemed like such an amazing idea. I would get to have friends, people who might actually watch my back, which was something I wasn't used to.

I met up with a small band of adventurers who called themselves The Blades of Luck. A halfling rouge (Melas), a gnome sorcerer (Trick), a human fighter (Ben), and an elf ranger (Julian). They accepted me easily into their group, actually knowing me as Riley rather than Battleaxe, my arena alias. We trained together and traveled together looking for work. We performed a few tasks here and there, and I really began to know and trust the members of my party. We eventually made it to the city of Chrome, where we landed our first big adventure. There was a rad dragon terrorizing the countryside and the city needed someone to deal with it. The peasants were too scared to farm and as a result they were crowding into the city's walls and everyone was running out of food. We accepted the quest and headed off to defeat the dragon.

The journey itself was short, but the fight against the dragon seemed to go on forever. Try as we might it seemed that nothing we did could hurt it. We were all battered and bloody by the time we took it down. While the others collected the treasure Julian and I went to examine the body of the beast. It was then that we discovered that the dragon was being controlled by a collar. It wasn't terrorizing the countryside by choice, someone was forcing it to do those things. If there is one thing I hate above all else it's slavery, I basically grew up a slave. The anger built inside of me and before I could remember that I needed to get it under control my birthmark began to burn and then my body burst into flame. I scorched the dragon's body, and Julian, who was too near to me and completely worn out from the battle, died in the blaze.

The instant I regained myself and realized what had happened, I ran. I was overwhelmed with guilt over what I had done, and I couldn't face the rest of the party, these people I considered friends, after killing one of their own. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me back to Chrome. I was tempted to turn myself into the guards and rot in jail for the rest of my life, where people would be safe from me, but something stopped me. That something was remembering what had happened to the dragon. I knew that someone from Chrome had to be controlling it, and I was going to find out who.

A few days of investigation led me to a the home of Kelvick the Wizard. He hadn't been very good at covering his tracks, I imagine because he didn't expect anyone to be crazy enough to go after a dragon. Besides, even if they did it was unlikely they'd stop to look for a collar let alone know what it was when they found it. He was, of course, very wrong in those assumptions. I broke down his door and could already feel my anger coming on as I cornered him. When he admitted to the dead I felt my anger overflow, but rather than fighting it I embraced the power and encouraged my birthmark to blaze with flames. I thought of the dragon, forced into slavery, and I thought of Julian, dead because of my anger. I destroyed not just the wizard, but his entire house that night. As I walked away from the falling ash I made a vow that I would never lose control of my anger again.

I wrote a letter to the remaining Blades of Luck, and left it at their residence. I explained what had happened, how incredibly sorry I was, what had happened with the wizard, and that I would never again work with an adventuring group because I didn't want to cause anyone else harm. Then I left Chrome and began roaming the countryside fighting monsters all on my own. I never saw The Blades of Luck again. From time to time I'd hear of their comings and goings, but I'd always make sure I wasn't anywhere near a town when they arrived. I don't think I can ever face them, see what I've done to them. How's that for a story?