Mike wanted to try out his new equine legs. "Let me go first! Centaurs are usually popular in the game, so they should be good here."
Ty smirks. "Don't be so sure things are always the same here as in a game. This is real."
"Yeah, Sure!" Mike grabs his sword and swings it around. "But who's gonna mess with a barbarian centaur with a weapon like this?"
The rest fo the group decided that Mike was the best equipped, so they let him go on ahead.
As he approached LavenGuard, Mike was nervous and excited at the same time. Even though this was supposed to be a game, everything felt completely real to him. Being a centaur was incredible – he couldn’t get over the sense of power and mass of his new body. Even his human upper torso was buffed out to match the muscled draft horse parts below. He was also aware of the rather immense male parts nestled between his hind legs – he’d dropped once already to pee, and what little he could see by twisting around was pretty amazing. He wondered if he’d get a chance to try it out – Ty hadn't mentioned sexual stuff.
LavenGuard wasn’t impressive – low stone buildings with thatched roofs in different states of repair, and staggered unevenly on either side of the muddy, unpaved road. Two larger buildings were obviously stables, and another looked to be a tavern or inn. Even on the outskirts, the smell was pretty strong. Urine and dung, rotting garbage, sweat – Mike remembered that disease was pretty common back in the days of Knights and castles. It was easy to understand that. He’d never even considered stuff like that in gaming before, but Ty was making the experience pretty real.
Some small children were running around playing a game with sticks, probably pretending to be knights or warriors, but stopped and ran up to stare at him. They were naked and filthy, ranging in age from about three up to eight or nine. One boy, a redhead who looked to be one of the older kids, ran over to Mike with a grin. “A centaur! Can I have a ride? I never rode on a centaur before!” The friendliness was a surprise – Mike thought the townspeople didn’t like centaurs.
Mike chuckled, enjoying the attention. “Sure! I can take more than one.” He reached down and heft the boy up onto his back. “Anybody else?” The rest of the kids shook their heads. Mike looked back as best he could. “Well, sir knight! Where do you want your noble steed to take you?”
“To see the Wizard!” The boy bounced happily on Mike’s broad back, so light Mike could hardly feel him. Small fists grabbed hold of the thick mane that ran down his back. It was a weird sensation, but not a bad one.
"Great! I want to see him, too!" Mike couldn't beleive his luck - the first person he met was taking him right tot he Wizard! He continued into town, noting that the kids were following. Some adults were visible now, clothes in tunics and loincloths for the most part. The adults were not much cleaner looking than the kids, and he didn’t see any that looked over 40. Life expectancy was a lot shorter in the middle ages.
A lanky, dark-haired boy in his mid-teens grinned and waved, but was looking at Mike’s passenger. “Looks like you got a nice warhorse there, Aaron! Wanna sell him?”
The boy replied “No! I’m gonna grow up and ride him on adventures!”
Mike snorted. “I don’t think I can wait around that long, sir knight.” More people were watching as he passed the teen and continued towards what looked like the Inn. There were maybe 50 people he could see wandering, though more would be in the buildings. “So where can we find this great and powerful Wizard?”
“There he is!” Aaron pointed towards a boy not much older than he was, though considerably cleaner and wearing a plain tunic. Brown hair tumbled past the boy’s shoulders, and he was carrying a gnarled stick taller than he was.
Oh, great. Mike sighed in disappointment. More games. Well, it was probably silly to expect a little kid to know a powerful Wizard.
This new boy was watching them from smaller of the two stables. “I got a warhorse! I wanna grow up now!” The boy smiled and nodded at Aaron’s shout, and motioned towards the open stable door.
Going along with the game, Mike headed inside. The older boy must work in the stable – he could probably provide some information on where to find the real Wizard.