It seems like forever since my quest came to an end.  The dragon is almost a faded memory now.  I received this letter after completing my quest:

 

"News of your heroic achievements has reached us here, and we must say we are impressed.  Come train with the heroes of our kingdom--the likes of which you have not seen where you are from.  Should you accept and join with us, we will pay you handsomely.  Please arrive in three months if you wish to join us."

 

Honored by the chance to head east to the next kingdom, I decided to join.  I was a hero in my old town, but I can barely hold my own at all with the warriors here.  Although the letter said that I'd never seen the likes of the warriors of this new kingdom, I am still amazed at the difference between this kingdom and my old town.  Anyone training in this kingdom could easily be a hero where I come from.  It's intimidating at times, but I hope that my training here will bear fruit soon.  There are no real dragons to talk about here except my training.

 

Although I've been here two months, the time passes so quickly I don't even realize it.  My goal for the time being is to find time to get to know my new comrades in between all the training I'm doing.  They could certainly prove to be sources of strength in times of difficulty.

Author's Note: I was not planning to put this chapter up for another couple of weeks, but since Terry's ending the blog system, I suppose I'll have to write it now if ever.  Fortunately chapter 5 was going to be the last chapter anyway.  Unfortunately now there won't be a Book 3, at least not here.  Without further ado, let's rejoin our hero.

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Tired from my battle with the dragon, I went to investigate what the footsteps were.  As I turned the dark corner into the hall from the dragon's room, I saw that there was a Minotaur at a distance, stomping around. 

 

"This Minotaur must be the strongest minion the dragon was talking about," I thought to myself.

 

Unfortunately the Minotaur was blocking my only way out of the lair, so it was either face the Minotaur or make my home in the dragon's lair.  The latter was not appealing to me, so I made my way quietly over to this new beast, hoping to catch it by surprise.

 

That strategy did not quite work, however, as the Minotaur was able to sense my approach and turned toward me, eyes looking down on me angrily, as if he was ready to kill.  Without a word the Minotaur took out its battle axe and held the weapon high in its hand.  As I wearily drew my sword, the Minotaur readied his attack.  I braced myself for defense, trying to plan my next move.  Just then, I heard the most agonized scream I had ever heard.  It was the Minotaur, crying out in pain.  An arrow had pierced its back.

 

"We got him!" a voice excitedly proclaimed in the background.  Further down the path there were two figures approaching.  As they got closer, I saw the faces of two of my comrades.

 

"The dragon was your fight, but let us help you with this one," said one of my comrades.

 

Revitalized by the sight of my friends, I nodded and readied my next attack.  I dealt a few blows, weakening the Minotaur to set him up for defeat at the hands of my other companion, who defeated the Minotaur handily after my attack and the arrow.

 

My comrades and I walked out of the dragon's lair together, defeating a few minor foes here and there, but mostly enjoying each other's company and talking about our adventures since we last parted.

 

We left the lair, saying our goodbyes as my comrades headed back to town.  Looking off to the east I saw the sun rising above the distant mountains.  I sat on the ground to watch the sun finish rising.  As I rested my hands on the ground they were refreshed by the fresh dew on the grass.  The morning breeze was just the right temperature for a refreshing feeling on my face.  It would be a warm, sunny day as I walked back to the town on my own, taking my time to enjoy the scenery, almost as if I hadn't seen it before.

 

I returned home, a hero in the eyes of all who knew me in the town I called home.

 

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Epilogue

 

A few days later, I walked out to my mailbox and found a letter from the next kingdom to the east.

 

"News of your heroic achievements has reached us here, and we must say we are impressed.  Come train with the heroes of our kingdom--the likes of which you have not seen where you are from.  Should you accept and join with us, we will pay you handsomely.  Please arrive in three months if you wish to join us."

 

Three months would be more than enough time for the excitement of my quest to wear off, I thought.  I decided to take them up on their offer in hopes of training with the best.  My quest ends here, but a new one begins soon.

Most of those present at the arena saw my battle as a full victory against the dragon.  I knew that the fight was not over yet, but I too saw victory that day.  I saw the return of my warrior's spirit: the confidence that allowed me to take on this quest in the first place.  It returned to me for the first time since before I began recording my quest here.

 

I traveled alone to the dragon's lair, for as before, I was the only one able to wield a sword against this evil beast.  As I entered the lair, I felt a surreal aura around me.  I realized that the next time I saw the light of day, my quest would be finished.

 

Many of the dragon's minions attacked me on the way to the back of the lair, but they were more of a nuisance than anything else.  The adrenaline rush was enough for me to cast these minions aside with little effort.

 

Finally, I reached the dragon's room at the back of the lair.

 

"So, you've come to fight," the dragon said, seeing my sword.  "Your people could have lived in peace had you forgotten about me.  I will not allow you to leave here."

 

My reply to the dragon's threat was the simple drawing of my sword and readying my fighting stance.  I said nothing to him.  As the dragon spoke, I surveyed his battle-torn body.  He hadn't had the chance to fully recover himself, and it showed.  This realization lit the fire inside me even more.

 

The dragon saw my reply and made the first attack.  He lifted his head and took a deep breath.  Black smoke emerged from his nostrils.  Noticing the unguarded midsection, I ran to him before he lowered his head and stabbed the dragon in the chest with my sword.  He roared in agony as his HP count lowered to critical levels.  His initial 620 HP was now below 30.

 

The dragon wildly began flailing his claws as I reading my final blow.  Dazed, the dragon could not do anything as I ran to him and jumped high.  As I came down, I dealt the final crushing blow to his head.  The dragon's head fell to the floor of his lair with a thunderous sound that sent loose stalactites to the ground.  I was weakened after this battle; the adrenaline rush had worn off and I began to feel my fatigue.

 

"You'll never get out," the dragon said as he drew his last breath, "my strongest minions will seek vengeance on you."  His eyes closed for the last time.

 

No sooner than he finished did I hear footsteps.  I began to make my way out of the lair, the completion of my quest a stone's throw away.

Well, the results are in.  The actual Friday high ranged from 49F (Cleveland) to 53F (Elyria) in the region forecasted by the four sources in the previous entry.

 

It turns out Dick Goddard (who forecasted for Cleveland) was the closest, as expected.  Only one degree off for a third day forecast is very impressive.  His general weather expertise combined with his experience in the Cleveland area is what I attribute his accuracy to.  

 

The Weather Channel (whose forecast was for Elyria) was next most accurate, an unusual inaccuracy of 8 degrees.  

 

Both papers were inaccurate by an embarassing 10 degrees; the one that forecasted 59F serves the Cleveland area and the one that forecasted 63F serves the Elyria area.  In their defense, both papers lowered the forecasted high the day after my blog entry.

 

Ohio weather is indeed difficult to predict.  If you don't like the weather here (especially as Spring increases its influence), stick around for 20 minutes and it's bound to change.

I usually follow the weather pretty closely in my area.  I often look at the weather page in the newspaper and go to weather.com when I wake up just to see what I can expect.

 

Weather forecasts are usually to be taken with a grain of salt if you're looking at any sort of extended forecast.  What I saw today, though, I had to write about here.

 

According to one local newspaper, the high temperature on Friday, March 23 is supposed to be 63 F.  Another local paper says 59 F.  According to weather.com, the high temperature on Friday is supposed to be 45 F (taken around 6:30 pm eastern time).  What does Cleveland's weather master, Dick Goddard, say?  He edges toward the lower extreme: 50 F (6:00 news extended forecast).  All these forecasts were taken on Tuesday, March 20.

 

It's not unusual for different sources to disagree slightly on the forecast, but this is a difference of almost 20 degrees between the extremes!  I'm not sure what could cause such a disagreement, but now I'm interested.

 

Obviously the two extreme sources are using different methods to calculate the high temperature.  I want to know who is better.  We'll see on Friday what the official high is and whose method is more accurate in this case.  My instinct is to go with Goddard, but we'll have to see.