Beyond Chaos – A DiceRPG

“Now, enough of all that,” Adam said, sipping from his waterskin, calming down from having riled himself. “It doesn’t matter whether you believe me now, since John will confirm everything with his eyes in the next few months, but let’s pretend that you do join us. John, what is your dream?”

“I would like my children to grow up well and to marry,” John said.

‘This guy, seriously…’ “What about for their work?”

“That is their decision to make, but I hope they live their lives safely, and with honour.”

“Seriously, you’re almost as cringe as me,” Adam grumbled, though he felt satisfaction bloom within his heart.

“He is not,” Jurot said.

“Not even close,” Kitool added.

“Executive, did you not say you spoke no lies?” Mork stated, unable to help himself.

“Mork, you don’t know me like that,” Adam said, raising his brows towards the Brother, whose smile only grew wider. The half elf also smirked slightly. ‘Damn it! Northerners are so cool! Literally!’

Jurot cleared his throat.

“Seriously, man. I don’t know what the Divine are doing, but to think you’ve come into my life at this exact moment when I needed you. It’s all so suspicious. You’re like me, if I was slightly less handsome, but also much smarter. You might find whatever I said unbelievable, but all of you are almost unbelievable to me too.” Adam began to laugh once more, letting out a long sigh at the end of it. ‘Is this your way of apologising to me? Did you think I would cause a bigger mess? Seriously, the Divine shouldn’t be interfering so much for a little leaf ear like me.’

“Since Adam has spoken so much and has given you much to think about, Jurot and I will discuss with you of your wants and needs,” Kitool said.

“I didn’t bully them that much, did I?” Adam asked.

“Brother, at a time like this, it is best for the least intimidating to take the lead,” Mork said, before glancing aside to the rest of his group.

“I guess I should have said less, but with the soldier behind me, I thought it would be good to let the King know some of our dealings,” Adam said.

“You shouldn’t admit to that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s suspicious.”

“Right, I guess so… King Merryweather knows me though? I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Jurot and Kitool listened to the others, while Adam spoke with John, and through some sheer ridiculousness, John allowed the half elf to fawn over the triplets, with his keen supervision.

“What are their names?”

“Garaeth, Owaen, and Tristaen,” John said.

“Oh? How come you named them all with the aen sound?”

“Emilia said it was good fortune for elves to be named in such a way.”

“I should have been Adaem, then,” Adam grumbled quietly, all the while the triplets cuddled their father, while peeking up towards the half elf. “Hello, hello, my little half elvish friends! Look, I’m a half elf too!”

As the half elf motioned to his ears, the children smiled, though remained clutching their father. The half elf’s heart soothed, and he beamed towards John. Adam held up a thumbs up, and winked at John approvingly, who wasn’t sure what that meant, and wondered if he needed to rebuke the half elf’s advances.

“I can see just how much they love their father, and with how they’re clutching at you, it seems you haven’t been spending enough time with them!” Adam tutted, crossing his arms. “It’s not like I can say anything, since they’ll hate me for stealing you away for so long.”

“They are used to me leaving for so long, and I hear they only cry a little while I am gone,” John said.

“They look so well behaved, but I bet they’re actually trouble, since they’re so cute! It’s the cutest children who are the most troublesome. Even though all my children are so cute, Jirot and Virot, they trouble me so much! You’re so lucky that you have all sons, daughters are so vicious!” Adam almost winced from the memories of his daughters bullying him.

“I would not have minded a daughter,” John admitted, noting how the half elf almost seemed normal in this moment.

“My eldest are triplets too,” Adam said, glancing down at the children. “The eldest, Konarot, she is so well behaved. I mean…”

John could see the half elf recalling a moment when she was not quite as well behaved as he let on, but he didn’t catch Adam’s real thoughts.

“Konarot, she’s so well behaved,” Adam stated again, this time more firmly, but his forehead pulsed, as though pushing away the memory of when she had almost killed her mother in a fury. “She protected her siblings well. Kirot, she’s so good at being her sister’s second in command, though she is her own girl too, but she… I need to make sure she also lives her own life. Karot, he… he’s meek, like my other boys, except Larot, but Larot is Larot. Karot, he takes after his mother, and he’s so sweet, and he likes to draw, and…”

“How old are they?”

“They turned five earlier this year. Actually, we have the same birthdays, in fact, pretty much all of us do. Jurot, me, Jurot’s wife, my wife, and my triplets, we all have the same birthdays.” Adam had forgotten Pam shared the same birthday as Lanarot. “So they started schooling in the Iyr, because they’re Iyrmen, and Iyrmen at five begin heading to school at that age formally. Seriously, those punks, who gave them permission to grow up?”

‘He’s… really a father.’ John blinked. “Your wife is a Ray?”

Adam blinked. “Don’t ask me about that. I decide not to question it myself. I’m the luckiest man in the whole world, I… I still don’t know how I did it, man.”

“She truly is a Ray?”

“Yes.”

“How did you meet?”

“How did we meet? How did we meet…” Adam tried to recall. “It was… six, seven years ago? It was… Fate. She was looking for someone dependable to help her Order with something, it’s a secret, you see, and we just so happened to be there. We helped out and when I was in danger, she jumped in after me, and she ended up stealing my first kiss one day, and she stole my heart too, and… I disappoint her daily, but she forgives me for being a fool, since I’m so handsome, and because I have a good heart, that’s why she stole it, you see?”

The joy in Adam’s eyes almost seared John, up until the awkwardness filled Adam’s face, and the young half elf flushed.

“Ah, and… well, right, anyway. Thankfully, Life’s Rose made the wise decision in investing in our business, so they freely gave up Vonda in order to form a connection with us, and ever since then, we’ve been handing over quite some coin.” Adam smiled wide, unable to contain his delight, until his expression grew far more wicked as he grinned wide. “Seriously, how could they be the only Order with good sense? I guess the Order of the Wings also accepted our gifts, but they did cause us some minor trouble back then…”

John could see Adam thinking of another crazy time that he wouldn’t be able to believe.

“Still, they were… they stepped back properly each time, so we can continue to have a good relationship. My granduncle has a good relationship with the Steel Bears, up in West Aldland, he’s good friends with their Grand Commander, the Bear Mother. My grandfather, though, he’s so troublesome. He’s killed so many Aldishmen, apparently he’s killed at least one of each Order, but don’t quote me on that.”

“Your grandfather?”

“Yeah, the Mad Dog.”

“The Mad Dog? The Mad Dog is your grandfather?” John asked, barely able to believe the words slipping out of Adam’s mouth, and yet, out of everything he said, was this the most believable nonsense he had said?

“Yeah, he is. Our grandfather is the Mad Dog. My son is named after him too, my little Jarot, but he’s still so meek. I’m glad about that, though, because I don’t think I could handle it if he took after his greatfather. His twin sister, Jirot, the troublemaker, she inherited his troublesomeness. Though, she’s so much cuter, so we have to forgive her, but my grandfather, he…”

John could see the annoyance flash on the half elf’s face.

“Seriously, he’s so annoying, but I can’t criticise him, because if anything happened to my children, he would cause a mess in the Iyr just to be able to cut the neck of the basta-,” Adam cleared his throat, noting the way the triplets drew closer to their father as he raised his voice.

“Is… is the Mad Dog, is Jarot, related to the Undying Jarot too?”

“Oh, that? All those nicknames belong to my grandfather.”

John’s eyes remained glued to the half elf, and even as Adam apologised to the triplets, rather meekly, John couldn’t draw his eyes away from the half elf.

‘Oh. He’s the Mad Dog’s grandson.’

Oh. Now Adam makes sense.