Alfric Overguard

**Alfric Overguard** is the founder and leader of the Settlers, the protagonists of This Used to be About Dungeons.

## Personality

Alfric's upbringing stressed the importance of honestly and disclosure, as a chrononaut, and he can be very protective of his honour and reputation.[*citation needed*] Still, he was willing to tell a number of half-truths and evasions in order to keep the fact he was a chrononaut, his past history of failed parties, and his relationship with Verity's parents from poisoning his initial relationship with the party.

Another thing his family stressed was the value of self-reliance, a lesson Alfric took to heart.

He respects all the gods, but Xuphin, god of Infinity is his favourite.

Alfric invariably prefers to take action over waiting. He thinks sunrise is a reasonable time to visit someone. Inititally, he was a bit oblivious to how rushed and pushy his manner seemed to the people in Pucklechurch.

### Skills

He experimented with magic in his youth, but settled on mundane melee combat. Initially he favoured a sword and shield, but he's trained in a variety of weapons and eventually switches to primarily using spears. This role in a dungeon is known as a "point man" - he's the one who faces the danger first and tries to take the brunt of it. [Editor's note: i.e. a standard RPG "tank".]

Alfric's expertise on dungeons is extensive and renowned among all who know him.

He knows nothing about cooking.

### Equipment

In his first appearance, he wore boots, bandolier, and an ordinary-looking heirloom sword in a sheath, not obviously an adventurer. He carried a small glowstone pocket lantern at night. His boots were minor entads which enhanced his stride length.

Initially, he used his heirloom entad sword along with a shield and armor (cuirass, greaves, and open-faced helm) in combat. The sword crackles with electricity, delivering mild shocks, and has several charges he can expend for a more intense burst of electricity. He can switch off the effect at will. The sword is perfectly balanced. His shield has both a strap holding to his arm and a handle to grip on to to help hold it in place. His boots, sword, shield, and armor were given to him by his family, as a bare minimum set of starting equipment for his career.

## History

Alfric is from Dondrian. His family rotated between temples of all six gods.

### In the Story

Alfric came to Pucklechurch hoping to build a party around Verity.

## References

1. ↑ Disclosure had been a cornerstone of his education, and it felt wrong to lie about his further plans. He was already not being as forthcoming as he would have liked, on several fronts. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
2. ↑ “And you know no magic?” asked Mizuki.

“Nothing of note for invading a dungeon,” replied Alfric, which he tried to comfort himself as being not *quite* a lie.

[...]

“You sure picked a lot of people from outside the hex, since Verity’s not local either.”

“Ah,” said Alfric. “That’s not on purpose, I assure you. The censusmaster didn’t say, and I haven’t been able to learn as much as I would have liked about everyone.” This, too, wasn’t quite a lie. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
3. ↑ “I’m not sure your explanation makes sense,” said Mizuki. [...] “Well me I understand,” said Mizuki. “But you’re asking a healing cleric to first take a day off from the temple, then several days if things go your way. And I know for a fact that Verity plays at the Fig and Gristle almost every day. Seems like it would have been easier to gather up a bunch of people in the city, then have you all move out to Pucklechurch together.”

“Might have been,” nodded Alfric. He didn’t want to say too much, and hoped that she wouldn’t take his silence the wrong way.

“Sorry if I’m pushing things,” said Mizuki. “It’s a bad habit.”

“No,” said Alfric. “They’re good questions, I just don’t have good answers.” Not at this stage, at least. Maybe later, once they all knew each other, once the party was together, after their second or third dungeon. - Chapter 2: Big City Energy
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 “Your parents were both dungeoneers,” said Isra. “Why aren’t you better equipped?”

“Ah,” said Alfric. He faltered. “Two reasons. The first is that my parents didn’t want me to depend too heavily on their support. The boots and the sword were a gift, as was the shield and my armor, but they didn’t offer more than that, and I think that if I’d tried to press them on it, they’d have given me a lecture far before they’d given me any of their more valuable entads. I was given money, but only just enough to settle myself. I do sorely need something for travel though, especially so that the team can be called in. The second reason is that the feeling of going into a dungeon and gathering new gear for yourself is, to them, something that makes you appreciate what you’ve earned. Once I get a good suit of armor for myself, something that resizes to me, at the very least, I’ll know that it was gained through the sweat of my brow. The same goes for a travel entad, and a storage entad if we find something better than the book, and entads that work with our own particular talents.”

“You think your parents were right,” said Isra.

“Yes,” said Alfric. “Absolutely. They were good parents, with many valuable lessons. Our family has a fair amount of prominence in Dondrian, and there’s a good reason for that. Honesty, disclosure, hard work, self-reliance, duty to others … I do my best to live by those values. Part of that means making my own way and not strolling into my first dungeon dressed in half the family armory.” - Chapter 13: The Nature of Travel
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 In Dondrian, each of the gods had their own temple, one devoted wholly to each particular god, with a whole host of clerics, and services that the devout attended weekly. His parents had done what many did, rotating temples each week, which allowed a deeper, fuller understanding of each god and their existence, for good and ill. He had always favored Xuphin, God of Infinity, whose doctrine seemed most sensible, but he had a healthy respect for all six gods. - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
6. ↑  The choice was whether to go back to his room and wait until morning, or whether to strike now, given that he had enough time. As always, Alfric took action. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
7. ↑ Alfric knocked on Mizuki’s door just after sunrise, having woken up to twilight filtering in through the curtains of his tavern room. She answered quite a while after he’d knocked, wearing a robe and looking disheveled, with her hair out of place. She was squinting and frowning as she looked at him, trying to keep the light from fully entering her eyes. - Chapter 2: Big City Energy
8. ↑ “What did you mean about big city energy?”

“Oh,” replied Mizuki. “I didn’t mean to offend, it’s just that there are some stereotypes of the cities. People bustling to and fro, always in a rush, always working on step twenty-six of their ninety step plan, things like that. I might not find it so funny if you didn’t seem completely oblivious to it.”

“Sorry,” said Alfric. “I don’t mean to be brusque.”

“I figure if we’re in this together, maybe I can help you,” said Mizuki. “I’m a local, I know the people and I know what kind of approaches work. You come on really strong. With Verity, we probably could have spent a half hour or so just chatting, getting to know her, talking about what her life is like, how long she’d been at the Fig and Gristle, things like that, and then gotten around to the adventuring thing.” - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
9. ↑ “And you know no magic?” asked Mizuki.

“Nothing of note for invading a dungeon,” replied Alfric, which he tried to comfort himself as being not quite a lie. “I tried a few of them, but was always better with a sword and shield.”

“No shield though,” replied Mizuki, looking down at the sword on his hip.

“It’s back in my room, with the rest of my armor,” said Alfric. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
10. ↑ I’ll be the point man, the one facing down anything dangerous, and I’ll try to keep myself between you and whatever we find in the dungeon. - Chapter 2: Big City Energy
11. ↑ “And are you wearin’ that? Because you’ll be point man, ay?”

“Er, yes,” said Alfric. “I’ll be point man, but I have some armor that I’ll be wearing, a cuirass and greaves, plus a helm, though they’re back at my room.” - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
12. ↑ “You’d have to ask Alfric,” said Kell. “He’s the dungeon guy, right? Even Vertex seems to think so.” - Chapter 91: Liferaft
13. ↑ So far as Alfric was concerned, cooking was a variety of magic, strange and arcane, with its own inscrutable laws. - Chapter 2: Big City Energy
14. ↑ She’s dark-skinned, like me - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
15. ↑ “My name is Alfric Overguard, adventurer,” he said, holding out his hand. That wasn’t the half of it, but it would do as an introduction.

She took his hand, raising an eyebrow, skeptical at first and then faintly amused.

Alfric wasn’t wearing his *full* adventuring gear, just his boots, bandolier, and sword in its sheath, with his shirt and pants being nothing particularly special. The sword was unique, an heirloom, but it would be hard for her to tell without him drawing it. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
16. ↑ “Did you bring a lantern? It’s hard to see.”

“I did,” said Alfric, pulling a disc from his pocket. He unlatched it, and light spilled out from one half of it. Mizuki looked him over, paying some special attention to the sword on his hip. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
17. ↑ She looked down at Alfric’s boots. “Are those magical?”

“They are,” replied Alfric, looking down. “They increase my stride length.” - Chapter 4: Three Raccoons
18. ↑ He adjusted his helm, which had done less to protect him than he’d hoped it would. It was open in the face, the better to see, but that *did* mean that he had less protection. - Chapter 5: This One is Actually About a Dungeon
19. ↑ “And you know no magic?” asked Mizuki.

“Nothing of note for invading a dungeon,” replied Alfric, which he tried to comfort himself as being not quite a lie. “I tried a few of them, but was always better with a sword and shield.”

“No shield though,” replied Mizuki, looking down at the sword on his hip.

“It’s back in my room, with the rest of my armor,” said Alfric. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
20. ↑ “And are you wearin’ that? Because you’ll be point man, ay?”

“Er, yes,” said Alfric. “I’ll be point man, but I have some armor that I’ll be wearing, a cuirass and greaves, plus a helm, though they’re back at my room.” - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
21. ↑ Alfric drew his sword, which brought arcs of electricity. [...]

“What does the sword do?” asked Mizuki. “I saw the lightning when you drew it.”

“It’s electric,” replied Alfric. “A fairly mild effect unless I use one of the charges, and a good candidate for replacement. It was my father’s weapon when he went into the dungeons.” He went out of his fighting stance and turned back toward them, keeping one eye on the door. “You can touch it, if you’d like.” He held the sword out, and Isra tentatively stepped forward, pressing her finger against the blade for a moment, then giving a curt nod, with no expression on her face, which Alfric found surprising. Mizuki frowned, looked at Isra, then stepped forward as well, and touched the blade too, almost immediately leaping back and swearing. - Chapter 5: This One is Actually About a Dungeon
22. ↑ He unsheathed his sword, dampening the magical effect to err on the side of safety, and twirled it once, feeling the perfect balance of it, and spun again, practicing his forms. - Chapter 4: Three Raccoons
23. ↑ He moved forward and used his shield hand to crack the door open. The shield was strapped to his arm, with a handle to hold it with. - Chapter 49: Dungeon Drudgery
24. ↑ Altogether, it made Alfric more confident in his choice to come to Pucklechurch. He had heard about her back in Dondrian, where she had trained in a conservatory and achieved a considerable level of fame, and hoped that he could pluck her from this tavern. There were other candidates in Pucklechurch, six others all told, but Verity was the one he felt was a necessity, and if she said no, he would do his best to persist. If she said yes, then he would get things going as quickly as possible. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle