#grunch

Grunch found himself in a new town, this one was pretty nice, they had a temple with a pretty little bell tower and everything. Peddy tried to get Grunch’s attention but Grunch tried ignoring him while looking at every single thing that every single shop was selling in their market. Most of it was food, there was firewood and tools and jewelries and so on.

Grunch bought a pretty necklace and the stall lady put it on him and smiled and he went off to the next adventure, drawn to the temple, as it was in the very center of the town, possibly the first thing to have been built there. Peddy tried to physically prevent Grunch from entering the temple so Grunch picked him up and threw him into the road and marched on in.

The floors were all clean so he took off his muddy boots and he realized all his armor was muddy too so he took it all off and walked in. He had on a manly dress and tight pants and socks and undergarments and of course his helmet with a little deer made of sticks on top and they all stank like smelly man but Grunch didn’t notice because he was the smelly man.

The temple was full of relics and so on, some related to gods, some related to war, and all of them led to the front where a figure sat in a veiled cushioned area and stared directly at Grunch. Nothing was discernible about them. “Um.” Grunch said, “Hello.”

The figure beckoned him and he approached. Sir Peddy opened the door gingerly and hesitated to intervene. Grunch stood in front of the figure and stared at them. He still couldn’t tell anything about them. They sucked on a pipe and exhaled, blowing white smoke through the veil. It almost reached Grunch. It smelled like earth and burning flowers.

Their voice was rough, even though obviously young, “Hello deer sir. Your future is uncertain. It is obscured by a great veil. Your strings of fate are all unraveled. But I can guide you by what has happened. You are good. Be good as you are, be you as you are. Do not change for shiny men nor bandits. You don’t need knights nor thieves nor women, you want friends. Good luck.”

“Um.” Grunch said. And Peddy came up behind him, “That can’t be right, what would he possibly do on his own? He doesn't have any skills anymore, can’t even fight for himself. He’s an idiot!”

The figure put their hand up and stopped him and said, “Sir Peddy, Knight of Grand Brythonnia, impatience and stubbornness will be the death of you. Begone from here,” the figure turned to face away from them, the jewelry covering them all jangled and clinked together. They laid down on their pillows and stayed still and supposedly slept. 

Grunch felt uplifted and had a good new spring in his march as he walked to the door to put back on his armor. Sir Peddy of Grand Brythonnia stood frozen before an oracle who he believed had just told him he was certain to die by his own flaws. This was an element of his stubbornness because oracles can also use figures of speech.