Greetings, heroes of another realm. I have summoned you all to fight for a great cause. I spied upon your world and heard your discussion of besting a black dragon. I was greatly impressed. I am sorry to force this summons upon you, but scrying across dimensions was incredibly costly, and I can't imagine what would be required to converse. So, all I can do is this message scroll. I hope you can forgive me in time and join me in this righteous cause. There is a great danger coming to this world. I am afraid the common people are ill-equipped to handle it. We are in dire need of heroes, some who can perform great feats and defy the odds. When you adjust to this world, come and find me at the black tower of Northsong. Fight well. I will see you soon.

  Zig had wondered if he'd never sleep again. He was mistaken, and happily so. Sleep was nice. He just needed less. The first night of escape he'd stayed up to keep watch. The second night, as the crew had almost reached Lancre, Zig slept soundly. He had the same strange dream again. This time nobody was chasing him. The scroll simply fell into his hands, and all the words were perfectly legible. It was pretty much what Zig had already figured out from the partial fragments. Some guy had summoned Zig—against his will, which was a bit of a jerk move, into this world. A world with terrible things like trolls and fanged horses. A world with incredible things like magical healers and inns with soothing fireplaces.

  Zig had been summoned here by mistake. Only, it had sort of self-corrected. He was no mighty hero. But he was definitely on his way to becoming... something. He wanted to get stronger. Any skill instantly gets leveled up to the highest category? It was cheating. But he wasn't quite at the level of defeating a "great danger to this world."

  Zig did want to travel to Northsong. He wanted more details. To meet the guy that had thrust him into this world. He wanted to explore this crazy amazing world. But some final details of the message also chilled him to his bones.

  "Heroes. Plural. I have summoned you all. Plural."

  Zig wasn't the only one who had been summoned. He wasn't the only one who had defeated the black dragon. Dave. Erica. Abed. They were all here, and they didn't have Zig's fortuitous accident. Zig's heart twisted, wondering how they were doing. Where were they? The message said "come find me", so Zig supposed the spell didn't include summoning them to the right place. Zig felt an urgency sinking into him. He had to find his friends.

  The group packed up camp, and reached Lancre when the sun was high in the sky. Holt shook Zig's hand.

  "We're glad to have you back, boy."

  "I can't believe you came to Grimsby for me."

  "Neither can I. Don't expect it again."

  "Holt, wait, I've got something for you."

  Zig pulled out the fine dagger he'd pinched off Jed's corpse. Holt stared at it.

  "You keep pulling these things out of nowhere, son, and you've got a bright future ahead of you. You want to sell it to the guild?"

  "I want to give it to the master of the guild."

  Zig handed it over, and Holt took it and Zig felt like they looked at each other for the first time as man to man, instead of guildmaster to boy-about-to-get-himself-killed. Holt nodded to him, and walked off toward the guild.

  "Say, Zig," Gretta asked politely, "I can't help but notice the ring on Hepp's finger and the dagger in Holt's hands... is there anything for your favorite dwarf? You know, the one that keeps you alive?"

  Zig smiled and held up the second gold ring in one hand, and the money pouch in the other.

  "I took these both off Jed. I don't know how many coins are in the pouch. I don't know what the ring's worth. You get to choose."

  Gretta, knowing enough to recognize pure gold, instantly pointed to the ring. Zig thought it would be a harder choice, but he shrugged and gave her the ring, and put the pouch back in his pocket. He turned to the lady and the steward.

  "Lady Jane and mister Jints, it has been an honor to be on Jed's bad side together with you both. I think I owe both of you a great debt. I don't know where you want to go from here, but let me know if there's anything I can help with."

  Jints spoke up without skipping a beat.

  "Mister Zig. I can't help but notice you are an adventurer, highly skilled but new to the job. Would there be any chance you need a steward, an administrator, someone to take care of the business side of things?"

  Zig was taken aback, he hadn't expected this.

  "I, well, sure, if you'd like to join us. We won't have the fine lodgings of a keep. So far we're earning about a silver a day per person."

  Jints blinked.

  "Well, it seems you might need someone more business-minded than I thought. Did you say one silver per day?"

  "It varies, it varies. But you're welcome to join, if you don't mind that kind of income."

  "From rags to riches then. Master Zig, I assure you, together we will build your empire in no time."

  Zig scratched his head.

  "I'm not sure about , but, welcome aboard mister Jints! How about you Lady Jane? Where would you like to go from here?"

  "I was thinking to go to Liston, there's an academy there I've always wanted to attend. But..."

  The lady's face was red as she looked down at the ground.

  "We left in a hurry, and I don't really have anything on me. No gold for the academy, and perhaps not even enough for the journey."

  "Lady Jane, I was dying of some kind of fever, and you brought a healer. That's a strong debt. We'll get you to Liston. Hey, Hepp?"

  "Yes, Zig?"

  "Where's Liston?"

  "Haven't the foggiest, Zig."

  "It's north, along the coast," Lady Jane said, "are you sure you can take me?"

  "North like Northsong?"

  "It's on the way to Northsong, yes."

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "That's perfect. Shall we set out tomorrow?"

  The team looked surprised by the sudden shift of plans, but one by one everyone nodded in agreement.

  "I wouldn't mind getting far away from Grimsby, myself," Jints said, "Lancre is far too close for my comfort."

  "I've always wanted to explore the world," Hepp added. "Count me in."

  "One more thing," Zig said, "our team's name. We'll be called the Red Daggers."

  "Huh? Why?"

  Zig brought them to an inn for lunch, and told them his story. He told them about Dave, who was the Gretta of his old group, always on the front lines. About Erica, who was—to say it lightly—a magic enthusiast. About Abed, who often played a support role, sometimes an assassin. He wasn't ambitious, he just wanted the group to have fun.

  Zig talked about the message he'd received in his dreams, and finding himself on a mountain. Hepp and Gretta had heard some of this before, but Jane and Jints were wide-eyed as Zig explained everything.

  "So that's why Red Daggers. We called ourselves that back on Earth. I'm hoping that if the name gets out, they might find their way. They'll be just as clueless as me, but I got lucky."

  "I still need to find me a landslide opportunity..." Hepp muttered to himself.

  "Not just that, I have you guys."

  Jints and lady Jane went to find lodgings and rest. They weren't adventurers, and the last couple days was more excitement than they had ever had. Zig, Gretta, and Hepp went to the market to start preparing for the journey north. Zig's first stop, of course, was to the weapons merchant he'd encountered before. He walked up to the stall and saw that beautiful rapier still there, lying on a velvet cloth. The engraved lions, the delicate tassel, the bronze cage around the hilt. It was gorgeous. It was out of reach, before. That was before.

  "Ho, good sir! I need that sword."

  Showing his desperation probably wasn't the best opening move. The merchant looked at Zig up and down.

  "Seven gold."

  "It says six on that card, and last time we talked you offered it for five."

  "Oh, we talked before? Hmm, let's see, let's see." The merchant eyed the sword and looked back at Zig.

  "Alright, I'll do five, but the scabbard's another two."

  "Five it is! Keep your scabbard."

  Zig didn't want a matching scabbard showing the world how expensive his sword was. He'd goblin-craft a very rough looking yet perfectly functional scabbard for himself later. The merchant looked very annoyed that he'd be left with a beautiful scabbard to sell with no matching blade, but when Zig dumped five gold coins out of a money pouch, he made the exchange without qualms.

  Zig walked around the market, holding his unsheathed rapier, grinning like an idiot. People's shouts of "put that away" didn't bother him in the slightest. He went to another merchant and bought the hardening resin-like goop that he'd seen Gretta use before, along with some strips of cloth. He took everything back to his inn, where, thankfully, his precious goop collection was still waiting for him. The innkeeper deserved a big tip for this. He put a thin layer of beeswax on the blade, then carefully wrapped it in cloth until it was fully covered. He got the resin goop and covered the outside of the cloth with it, working it into the fabric. He left it to sit over night. Hopefully the resin and cloth would harden into a perfectly fitted sheath for the rapier, while looking like absolute garbage. Also, Zig hoped, the wax on the inside would stop the resin from glueing the blade itself to the sheath. Quality, disguised as trash, this was the goblin way.

  The Red Daggers met up at the Frosted Stag, the upper class inn of Lancre, where Jints and lady Jane were staying. They had dinner together, sitting near that beautifully warm and inviting fire. They had all passed through some traumatic events, but just being near that cozy flame helped a lot of tension bleed away as they ate and drink. It was the perfect night.

  "Look at this, everyone."

  A very happy Gretta showed everyone the new buckler shield she'd purchased, after selling the gold ring. It was wooden, like the last one, but had a shiny metal center, and a few steel spikes were studded throughout the outer surface. Everybody oo'ed and aa'ed at the appropriate moments.

  Hepp started passing around his Eagle Eye ring, allowing everyone to experience the disorienting ability to zoom in to any detail in the room.

  "I've always like archery. Growing up, I wanted to be like Wynn Goblinbane, the famous ranger. They say he could shoot the wings off a bee a thousand paces away."

  "Why would you shoot the wings off a bee?"

  "To prove that you could. That's not the point." Hepp had a dreamy far-off look in his eyes. "He was free, he was unstoppable. No monster could stand up to his arrows. No woman could stand up to his eyes."

  "He killed women with his eyes?"

  "Zig, I'm daydreaming here."

  "Pff ok, ok, tell me more about his eyes."

  "...well now it's weird."

  They were interrupted by a servant offering them another round of drinks.

  "My good people, these drinks are on the house, curtesy of the innkeeper."

  That was met with a cheer. Each person grabbed a mug.

  "Wait," Lady Jane said, "I'd like to propose a toast. To freedom. To adventure. And to the death of tyrants."

  The rest of them cheered and raised their cups. All except Jints, who was having a turn with the Eagle Eye ring. He stiffened and then waved his hands at the group.

  "Wait. Wait! Nobody drink!"

  Everybody paused. Nobody had taken a sip, except for Zig who was already a quarter way through his mug.

  "That's... That's Holston. The alchemist!"

  The servant that had brought them the drinks was almost out the door. When Jints spoke, he dashed out into the night at a full sprint. Everyone froze, looking at their drinks, which had been given to them by a master of poisons. Zig burped.

  "I don't think you should drink those."

  "Why would Holston be trying to poison us?"

  "Why would Holston be trying to secretly give us innocent drinks?"

  "Are you ok Zig?"

  "Ah, I'm fine. Poison doesn't really work on me, do you mind if I...?"

  Zig finished his drink and grabbed one of the others. The relaxing fire struggled to beat the overwhelm of panic the group had at almost drinking poison.

  "How did you know him, Jints?"

  "His eyes. He has one green, one purple, very uncommon. He lives and works in Lancre, but visits Grimsby quite a bit, a friend of our late mister Jed."

  "Ah."

  "I think leaving Lancre tomorrow is a good idea. It seems like this whole affair may follow us for a time."

  Jints was right, but it was too late. Before they headed to bed, bells started tolling in Lancre. Guards started up a chain of shouts across the town.

  "Enemy on our borders. To arms! To arms!"

  Grimsby's army had marched as soon as they'd found Lord Jed dead in the keep. Somehow, they knew it was Lancre. Maybe it was just from Lord Jorst dying at Lancre's hands. Maybe someone had a skill to figure things out. Zig cursed skills as the fighting crew of the Red Daggers rushed toward the town walls. They were wooden palisades, just a line of logs with sharp tips facing the sky. Meant to keep out wild beasts, not stop an army.

  Hidden and well-entrenched in the forest, Grimsby's army was only noticed because a hunter had gone out from Lancre, and run back with the alarm. He was talking to the captain of Lancre's guard, with quite a crowd of people listening in.

  "...I don't know the numbers. Hundreds? A thousand? Didn't look like they were here to negotiate. I'm not sure if Lancre can survive this."

  There were murmurs in the crowd. Some shouts of disbelief.

  "Can anyone verify this?" The captain shouted out. Two scouts raised their hands and nodded.

  "It's as he says, sir. They're deep in the forest, setting up camp. I think they'll wait until morning."

  "What a relief," the captain said bitterly, "so at least we have a sleepless night to prepare. Guards, to me. Any lord or landowner, meet me in my office for strategy, any fighters, adventurers, or farmers with a pitchfork," he addressed the gathering crowd, "we're going to need every hand." He strode back to the guardhouse, along with Lancre's leaders.

  "What do you think?" Zig asked.

  "We're not in a good position," Hepp replied.

  "I'm going to break my new shield," Gretta muttered.

  "Should we escape tonight?" Zig asked.

  "Doesn't feel right," Hepp replied.

  "Doesn't feel right at all," Gretta agreed. Zig smiled.

  "Well, I guess we gotta do something about it. See anything Hepp?"

  Zig peered at the forest, trying to see where the enemy was. It was just dark woods, no sign of movement to him.

  "Nothing from here, Zig. They must be deep inside. I wonder if they were trying to hide, and surprise us in the morning, or if they wanted us to know, so we'd get no sleep."

  Zig didn't reply. He was thinking.

  "Hepp, what were you wishing for earlier today?"

  "Uhh, to be like Wynn Goblinbane?"

  "No. Who? Oh. No. I meant the other thing."

  "You're gonna have to clue me in there, Zig."

  Zig stared at the tall, dark forest. He remembered his goop collection.

  "Hepp, I think you're about to have a landslide event."