Lifting up the burdens off his shoulders, the light eased his senses. Thus accompanying him to a better end, till everything darkens and disappears along with him. Or so would he have thought if his clothes did not move at the breeze of wind, if his nose did not perk up to such a bitter scent, if his limbs were not freely able to move-- if, simply told, his corpse was thrown at the dogs. Nonetheless, here he was. Alive, in a place he was not familiar with. Somewhere away from the city. ‘Is it-- the afterlife?’, it was his fight thought when his spirit grasped the situation. The answer quickly turned negative as noises began to appear. Steps to be more precise, people speaking a foreign language yet familiar, likely a sort of dialect.
Yet, despite all of his senses, one was heavily diminished. His sight was badly damaged, every color faded, every perspective seemed to be darker than it should be. A sigh escaped his mouth as his mood lifted up. Manyvat Adruo survived, he went through hell and came back with significant harms. But he was alive.
‘That is all I need to start anew,’ will he try again? It is likely. However, questions remained, for example, his last memory and his current appearance. Everything seemed blurry, including his memories, aside from his sensations, one word came to mind: heat.
That is right, someone or a group attempted to burn him to death likely. As his mind kept running the possible scenarios, the merchant lied down on the ground and his pupils focused upon the sky.
‘Why can I not remember… why would they… I mean… I have not done anything wrong, did I..? Perhaps some errors there and here. But not enough to be-- executed, right?’
Trying to remember what happened, he tried to visualize his sensations in a different-- and such, he thought of snow nearby a fire. That snow melted and then faded away.
‘Is that what happened?’
Does that mean he died, burning on the sakes? If that is case, where is he? Until his body lifts off the ground, and his legs explore these lands. It will remain unanswered. However, taking each thing in its own time is a more efficient option. His shape was cladded into a black robe from head to toes, revealing an iron cuirass. A tricorn was put down on his head, just below it was a smooth white mask, likely in iron as well.
Nothing in his brain could tell him where and how did he get to wear these clothes. None of these fitted his personality, neither did it goes well with his taste. Anyhow, holding on this mask with his left hand, he tried to remove-- but he was unable to. Another issue was risen, how will he eat if he cannot remove this mask? Same as for drinking. Trying again, but this time with the lower half of the mask-- only the lower half turned up.
‘Mmmm. How strange. I suppose I cannot do anything about it… still, that will make my work much more difficult. How troublesome.’
Since he was unable to do so, he tried to lift up his sleeves-- but he was unable as well. Collecting his thoughts, Adruo was still unsure whether that was reality or not. What kind of entity would force you to live with these clothes and never be able to take them off? Perhaps, even a curse. Or simply his own mind-- who knew, perhaps he was simply dreaming and all he needed was to go along with it.
Now that most aspects of his current self have been assessed, his head turned left and right. And his eyes widened. Even more questions followed his shadow as he began walking around, trying to examine the place he was in-- a city. Little by little, his sight seemed to be returning, allowing him to have a more proper view on it. An outskirt city? That is what he thought when he saw the buildings, but something felt odd. There was something wrong. For example-- those gates.
At this exact moment, a hand set on his shoulder. Worries run along his spine, sweat began to cover his body-- but, of course, none of this could be noticed. Slowly turning back, his eyes focused on the stranger.
“My, that is one strange outfit. But I suppose you are not the strangest out there… in any case, I suppose you just arrived there, didn’t ya?”
It was a man, likely in his late forties. Of a white composure, brown hair, dark eyes, heavy wrinkles around his smile, and finally a rather wide shape. Likely, that man is a warrior, a friendly one considering that humongous grin. Who was he? And where were they? Nonetheless, he preferred to wait rather than ask questions. Wait and see-- answers may come by themselves without needing him to personally involve himself.
“Ahaaah, and you’re a silent one. Oh well, in any case, welcome to this new world! You’re currently in Scribel City! Where can be found the Adventurer’s Guild, many otherworlders go there once they came in.”
When he heard those words, a sigh escaped his mouth. An Adventurer’s Guild? Honestly, he did not like it. Nonetheless, usually, lot of information went through them as they were more popular than mercenary bands in his previous world-- or so it was thought. Manyvat frowned upon those thoughts, coming from another world? That sounds like pure legends. If people such as these existed, they would be purged. Be it as it may-- before getting more confused.
“Let’s have a drink somewhere and speak. My name is Manyvat Adruo.”
Looking a bit surprised, the warrior smiled and stretched out his arm, hoping for a friendly handshake. In any case, since one introduced himself, the other shall do the same while leading him to the-- Adventurer’s Tavern. Where else should he go, after all? There was not any other place he could go to.
“Mine is Paul, just Paul. We’re gonna go to the tavern, aye? I will be able to explain things more thoroughly to you.”
“I do hope that you will do that. I need information right now… and I thank you in advance for that.
In fact, while they were on the way to the tavern, that is what he did-- later on, he explained the relationships between the City-State of Scribel and the Adventurer’s Guild, some significant places around the city. But not much more than that. As time flew on, the merchant began to relax and the tone of his voice became much more friendly and joyful. This swift change made his guide rather perplexed, but he just shrugged over it and thought of it as an otherworlder’s eccentricity.
Eventually, it became a reason for Paul to pester his newfound comrade with questions that delve into his personal life a bit too much for comfort.
Your name’s quite odd, does it have any particular meaning?
How did you even get into this world? Lot of people seemed to give out pretty eccentric replies… though, all were somehow interesting I guess.
Right, did you have a family or anything along those lines? Why would you come here and leave them behind if you do have one? Isn’t that pretty selfish…?
Although… what’s up with these clothes? Isn't it... too warm?
However, the merchant still remained unwilling to speak about his issues and tried avoiding the bothersome topics or get around it. For example--
“When going to a hot place such as desert or so, it is unwise to go naked. If you are heavily clothed, sweat will be more profusely produced. But this same sweat will be able to cool down your body and thus permits you to hold out a longer time in a hot climate! So, may as well feel hot all of the time.”
While he could not confirm about whether what he was declaring was lies or not, he only needed to divert the topic to something else. Not minding much his reply, Paul just clicked on his tongue and decided to be done with it as it seemed that the merchant was unwilling to share. It was clear. The otherworlder wanted him to leave considering his reply, and how he kept avoiding speaking.
“Since it seems like that you still need time, I suppose I should let you the time to think everything through, I must be a bother by distracting you-- let’s just talk again once your thoughts are collected, I am always curious about what otherworlders, they always bring intriguing stories with them… Anyway--”
Understanding how this encounter may end up if he leaves it this way. Manyvat decided to interrupt him, shook his hand and-- express his deepest thanks and apologies as the same time. While trying to keep a certain sort of link with him.
“Dear friend, I just want you to know one thing. I am grateful for you to have guided me. Once I am feeling better, I will be sure to pay you a treat and a drink. Or if you prefer, I owe you a favour, if you need anything that can be within my capabilities, just… come to the… Adventurer’s Tavern I suppose? That can be our discussion and drinking spot.”
“Oh… arg, I hate it. Whatever. I guess I can apologize for being too curious as well, you just came here and I kept asking questions about you.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine, let’s just meet up when everything’s fine, okay?”
Following this, no words were exchanged. Only gestures, handshakes and nods. As well as smiles. A sort of relief took over the merchant’s mind who then wondered what kind of benefits could he draw from this relationship? Considering that he seems to be a warrior, perhaps information about the surrounding beasts? Nonetheless, now that he got this matter dealt with. The merchant leaned against the Guild’s war and needed time to compute before going into the guild to register himself as an adventurer.
--first, the situation seemed to be real. Surprisingly enough, it would make sense if he did come to another world. Yet it is still unbelievable. How can he not doubt the current situation? He may as well be teleported to the other side of the planet! That would already more credible than being in another world! Although, he remembered what his eyes perceived-- those gates. Something was amiss about them. Somehow-- it did not feel like magic, it was similar yet different.
To try it out, the merchant tried to cast some spells-- but everything felt so unstable that it barely worked. The foundations themselves of his spells felt wrong-- even though in his previous world, it worked just fine. With this, he came to the conclusion that magic itself was different in this world.
Also, while the common language is slightly different. For some reasons, he had no problems speaking it. It seemed that he even spoke with a native’s accent. How did he do that? He barely recognised his own voice when they spoke to each other. Actually, why did he even perfectly understand him? Aside from that-- there were many questions, but all of these could be answered with time.
Except one-- why? Why is he here? How did he come through those gates? No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not remember anything but the scent of smoke. And since his mind seemed unwilling to share what he went through-- he will not think about it, he will discard that thought and try to discover much more the place he is in and, perhaps, realise his dream while he is at it. But for that, he needed information that he could get from the Guild as it seems that they are used to receive people from other worlds-- or so the common belief claims.
‘I still do not believe it.’
Assuming that coming to another world is really possible, it means that there should be a knot, a link or anything between his world and this one, right? But if there was one, he would know it. For sure, before appearing here-- he sought secrets, any esoteric clue that could lead him to a new source of benefits. Be it through an intermediary or not-- nonetheless.
‘...I could not know it as well… after all-- I lost everything, right? It must not have been something that happened overnight, someone must have been planning in the long-term… thus that would explain why I would not know of it.’
Let’s stop thinking about it. That is better, it is not as if he can change anything to the outcome after all. Unless he could go back in time and travel between worlds, nonetheless, it is impossible. Entering into the Guild, he looked around and saw the reception. That was time to register, wasn’t it? He walked to the receptionist, cleared his throat and spoke on a joyful tone.
“I would like to register, although, only if it’s free!”
That is how he became an adventurer, still, only if it's free-- jokes aside, no matter what happened on the registration day, he became an adventurer. Somehow.
OOC: I honestly did not know what to write with this one~
(Maybe because it's supposed to happen before the registration? Or because of the gate stuff? Not sure about what gave me troubles writing this one. )
Having arrived at an entrance to this sewerage system which appears to be fairly orderly from all the records I have acquired even if it says that it is mazelike to some I take stock of the conditions of the sewer.
Assertion: Sewers are far cleaner than I had expected them to be.
Conclusion: Relatively the sewers are not that dirty compared to those of many of the larger Imperial worlds.
Assertion: Relative cleanliness of the sewers as compared to those of that I am used to.
Conclusion: Lower population density has lead to the sewers not having as much gunk in them as compared to those that I am far more familiar with as well as the open water source nearby likely means that it's easier for a flow to occur.
Assertion: Scribel Adventurer guild regularly sends people down into to the sewers to make sure that there are no corpses in the sewers as well as to contain rat populations.
Conclusion: The traffic that humans make as they go through the sewers keeps them relatively cleaner as people don't want to be wading through rotting piles of shit more often than not.
I slowly make my way deeper into the sewer scanning look for the rats to test myself against they are supposed to be giant but how big is that exactly I really need to start making a more thorough search of the databases here before going out on these quests. A Vanus operative is supposed to live and die by their knowledge. However from the size of these sewers and the relatively low threat that they are supposed to present I can say almost certainly that the rats here will pose little threat to myself. I actually had a few missions against rats after all they are supposed to be excellent at stealth and detection of enemies so assassins where sent into the sewerage system to acclimatise to the area and wait until even the rats could not notice them before leaving.
After travelling for a while into the sewers I noticed a distinct lack of living rats of course there were a few dead rats lying around but none of them had tails still attached. I began to collect up these rats in a pile so that they could be disposed of later. This lengthened the job probably by a large portion but I was supposed to remove corpses from the sewers anyway. The slow motion and the constant stalking seemed to be creating a fire in my body. I could hear a low whistling sound, the sound seemed to come from every direction at once and was slowly building up inside of my head.
Assertion: The daemon is making some kind of play to put pressure on me during this period of time.
Conclusion: Reasoning unknown threat unknown caution advised.
I slowly open up my left eye to see if there is anything living nearby no lights show up and the pain seems to be gone for now. Though dancing at the edge of my vision of my left eye is black spots. Likely something to do with the daemon it was referred to as a black emptiness by doctor Sturn.
After a while longer of the slow movement through the sewer I was able to ignore the noise however the heat building up in my body was becoming far more problematic constantly distracting me from my goal. I'd built up a fairly large amount of rats about 30 odd with their tails removed and dead. I was waiting near it standing as still as I could against the wall surely the rats would come for this. A rat about the size of one of those black creatures that stalked birds and rats above ground appeared large for a rat I guess but not the biggest by a large margin I've heard of. I slowly take aim at the back of the creatures head whilst the fire in my body seems to be dragging around to my leg. I take the shot and immediately after firing the arrow I collapse to the floor. My left leg having given out underneath me.
A while later after having killed 4 rats in similar ways after each shot my left leg gave out each time smacking me down on the floor dirtying my clothes and getting a foul stench building around me. The heat was slowly building up inside my leg and it was beginning to feel good. The slime and gunk seemed to have soaked into it and no matter how much I tried to clean off the gunk it would always be covered in more. The gunk was slowly spreading further and further up my leg as well and anywhere I left the gunk on my clothing it started a pleasurable sensation.
Assertion: The gunk is reacting with my body and giving my body pleasure for some unknown reason. Furthermore pain after a certain point is becoming a type of pleasure.
Conclusion: The daemon is doing something.
Assertion: The daemon wants me to feel pleasure and to be covered in this gunk.
Conclusion: Speed up this process and get out of here.
After that troubling discovery luckily a large group of rats came by and attracted by the pile of 34 dead rats, the new group lost all sense of their surrounding and rapidly dived at the pile beginning to munch and eat with abandon. I slowly begin to feel the headache pounding in my head and rapidly closed my left eye. I than quickly walked over to them being as silent as was possible the gunk built up on my body helping to silence my movement at least. Grabbing a sharp arrow from the quiver I quickly move in and begin killing the rats using the pile to hide my actions.
Assertion: Physical action increases the pleasure that is being driven throughout my body however it does not bring about the same weakness that is drilled into my body when I used ranged.
Conclusion: The daemon wants me to use melee attacks for some as of yet unknown reason.
After finishing off 9 of the 10 rats the pleasure built up is to great and a sound escapes from my throat. The last rat startled quickly looks around sees me and dashes through my legs escaping with one of the dead rats clenched between it's teeth. The rat had a slight tinge of purple to it and a lightning stripe ran along it's side from tailtip to one of it's 7 whiskers it seemingly missing one. "Fuck" I shout out and an intenser pleasure goes through my body at the word and I start shivering all over. I proceed to collapse backwards when the pleasure subsides both my legs having given out. I slowly remove the rat tails from each of the rats that I've killed before adding them to my pile. 13 tails and now 40 dead rats piled on the floor. I close both my eyes as the build up of an information overload feels like it is oncoming. Something feels like it's grabbed onto my shoulder but there is nothing there. Even though there is nothing my body is still slowly rolled over in the muck. Covering my body entirely except for my face which is miraculously on a clean area though my hair seems to be on fire to. The fire continues to strengthen and a tearing sound appears in my ear the suit is slowly ripping itself apart on places of my body where the firey sensation is strongest. I hear a mans voice and than I blank out from an information overload.
Coming to my suit that seemed to have ripped before I fell unconscious feels to have been removed from my body by something or someone. I am lucky that no rats found me whilst I was unconscious down here or I'm likely to have died. Getting up I look over myself dirtied and sullied in the filth of the sewers that will be a pain to clean though whatever the daemon was doing has ended for now it's actions are far to worrisome for my liking.
Assertion: The daemon has strong control over the pleasure receptors in my body and has vast powers seemingly at it's command.
Conclusion: I am in a fair amount of trouble. Requesting someone to execute me if I fall to far is a good idea.
Getting up I slowly look around me the sewer near me seems to have some white stains and I can feel something hot inside of my body though what exactly it is I do not feel like finding out. My clothing lays nearby completely clean though the left leg is coloured purple now rather than the white it previously was.
Assertion: The daemon has some long term scheme going on.
Conclusion: I must find now go and get new clothing fast.
Before my thoughts can go any further a whisper buries it's way into my ear. "How do you like my improvements? They take you towards perfection do they not." The sounds make my body shiver this only redoubles my effort to find new clothing.
Having brushed as much of the gunk off as I can I begin to move over to my clothing to inspect it further. There is a skull that surround each of my ankles, knees, elbows. What looks like the imprint of a skull around the groin area and a chain of skulls that runs around my neck. I checked my other stuff the 13 tails still remained. I went back to hiding to wait and quickly recovered 7 more tails from rats that passed by. I slowly walked away whilst looking at the sewer walls which were actually well layered with stone and had wooden support beams fairly often. Some of the wooden support beams looked as if they would need replacing soon if it was wished that they should continue to be in use. Every so often the dark of the tunnel was split by a shaft of light. These shafts were for people who wanted to dispose of garbage and other such stuff.
After a few more minutes of sitting down waiting for a rat to approach the pile I decided to go outside and burn the rat corpses and collect some more water for washing. I started off looking for something to help me carry my dead rats. I slowly walked along the sewer tunnel scanning everywhich way till I came across a board which looked big enough to carry my load. Quickly I returned to my stash of rats with the board. I slowly stacked the rat pile now depleted slightly further by rats having carried off 2 or 3 of them. The weight of the rats was far less than I predicted and I could easily carry it all on the board with no trouble.
Exiting the sewers I found that it was night time I made preparations for a small fire but left it unlit.
Assertion: Filthy
Conclusion:Time for a clean.
I slowly left the place where my rats were and headed towards the pool of water nearby to rinse my body off, I slowly got undressed I separated some of the water out of the pool and proceeded to use it to clean my hands off. I dumped the skintight body suit into the water the purple colour seems to have receded slightly on the left leg though the part is a deeper shade of purple I'm absolutely sure of it. Slowly I used the water to clean the rest of the gunk off my body making my self properly clean at last. Than I grabbed my suit out from the water and got dressed again. Than I lit the fire and started cooking one of the rats for dinner. The rest would be burnt to ashes and I'd crush the bones in the morning.
After finishing my dinner I spread the fire out a bit and began placing the rats into the fire to cook. There was no risk of the fire running out but there may be problems with the rats not catching fire properly or maybe the fire not being hot enough I'd see tomorrow. The rats had lost all their blood after I first killed them and whilst they had been sitting in the pile so the only problem would be the muck they had on them much of which in itself was highly flammable.
Waking up I made sure that my 13 rat tails were still secured and looked at the fire now burnt out but the meat had all been turned to ash. The rats were properly burnt leaving only the bones behind. I quickly gathered them up and than crushed them beneath the heel of my left leg. Some of the bones dust seemingly tinged purple but it was gone before I could be positive. After that I prepared to re-enter the sewers.
After a while of travel I began seeing more and more rot in the wood as if this area had been neglected on purpose though the rat tracks decreased even further in this area and the floor was far cleaner. Stopping I took a look around the place I was currently in.
Assertion: Roof seems to have lost stones and supports appear to be rotted through. Roof is also far lower compared to previous sections in area ahead.
Conclusion: Tunnel in imminent danger of collapse.
Assertion: Danger to those above and danger if anything is below.
Conclusion: Report to guild the lack of rats and the imminent collapse of the sewers.
The heat from yesterday returned to my body as I arrived at a section of the sewers with seemingly clean wooded floors. The heat was as I would predict particularly strong in the left leg that had been covered in gunk again to a point where you couldn't notice the purple. At this point I'd collected another 3 rats to add to my collection. meaning that I only had to collect another four and burn the ones currently hanging from my waist. A purple rat came from around the corner it was about the size of a small dog.
Assertion: Danger
Conclusion: Fire crossbow
As soon as I brought the crossbow up my legs began to feel like jelly and swiftly dropped me to the floor. The rat was now far closer.
Assertion: Daemon is messing with my nervous system again.
Conclusion: Finish this in melee quickly.
I quickly stood up as the rat continued to charge towards me I noticed a lightning stripe on it running from the start of it's tail until one of it's whiskers. The rat was getting to close to me so I prepared to jump out of the way now struggling to get a bolt out from my sealed quiver. The rat trued to jump as it came close enough however it seemed it wasn't used to having such a large body as it immediately stumbled and collapsed on the floor I relax and pull the bolt out of the quiver and ran at it. I stepped on the rats head with my left foot whilst it was trying to get itself up off the ground and than I brought the arrow down just behind the tip of my toe into it's neck. Purple blood shoots out of the rats neck dirtying the The rat continues wriggling around trying to escape so I begin sawing away it's neck than my left leg goes dead and the rat escapes. The patches of purple blood that landed on my body are now fading away though the ones on the floor remain. The rat proceeds to run away and escape.
The firey feeling diminishes as I go further and further along the wooden floor. I soon come upon 3 large rats sitting still I ready my bolts the first a blunt one and the other 2 sharp and load the crossbow with the first. I fire off the first shot smashing into the rats face and crushes it crumpling it to the floor I quickly reload with the sharp bolt and fire the second through the back of the neck of the second rat and then I rush to reload the third. The final rat notices me and dashes off towards the shadows but I fire the shot smashing through it's body from end to end. I quickly go and collect my bolts from the floor and proceed to attach the 3 rats to my belt. I turn around and begin to head out of the cave.
I arrive back at where I hurt the rat the firey sensation now back in full force and increasing I ready myself by pulling out one of the bolts as I slowly inch around the corner and spy with my left eye the large purple rat. This action sends a massive bolt of pain lancing from my eye into my brain. To counteract this my body moves out into the tunnel where the still bleeding rat proceeds to launch itself at me. I fall on the floor and the rat lands on top of me it's head just above my mouth it's neck wood slowly dribbling it's blood near my mouth a drop touches my lip and seems to just expand from it. I smash the side of my fist into it's head the arrow head penetrates into it's neck and than the fist smacks into it sending the rat flying. I slowly get up and walk towards the corpse where I proceed to stomp on the thing with my left leg which than goes limp. The blood splatters all over my body and most of it than proceeds to burst in a miniature explosion which sends me stumbling to the floor and knocks me out.
I wae up naked again, the white suit cleaned over on the floor beside me I quickly put it on again whilst carefully looking it over. Nothing seems to have changed to it just the tail of the purple rat has been added along with some of it's corpse still there. Time for me to leave and report back to the guild.
The sewers have a part that is collapsing, there is not all that many traces of rats that can be found in the sewers. There was also a rat that was mutated from being a normal giant rat to a larger and purple coloured Mega rat.
The sound of a bell ringing through the halls wakes me up. Itching for some action, I jump out of my bed, almost landing on a fellow gang member, and dash out of the room while putting on my clothes. Bursting into the assembly hall, I see the masked dude that knocked me out yesterday. From what I've heard yesterday, he seems to be the right hand of the boss. Wants to be called captain or some stuff.
"Hey, Cap'!" I greet him. "Wanna go at it again?"
"...how are you already recovered?"
"Well, I got a healthy liver!"
The captain holds his head as if he is in pain and mutters something I can barely understand: "I didn't mean the alcohol, you... why did I agree to take this idiot in?"
"What was that, Cap'?"
"Nothing..."
The rest of the gang in this hideout slowly assembles, still hungover from the night before. Once everyone is there, the captain starts: "Listen up, gang! Those Mariani bastards are preparing to mess with the 3rd merchant street, which is under our protection. I want you to get there, mess the Mariani up, and make sure the stores don't get the slightest amount of damage. Got that?"
"Yes, Captain!" - "Yes, Cap'!"
"And you, newbie." He throws me some piece of clothing. I snatch it out of the air and look at it. "Ooh~ nice!" It's the official Crimson Coin glove. Without another word from the captain I put it on - it fits perfectly.
"Now get going!" He barks at me as I give him a mock salute before I notice that the rest of the gang is long gone.
"Bloody hell, wait for me!"
...
A few minutes later, I am on the 3rd Merchant Street with the rest of the gang, impatiently walking up and down the nearby alleys. That's it! I can't wait any longer.
"I'll climb up and check if I can see them!" I shout to a nearby gang member as I am already climbing up the balustrade.
"Are you mad!?"
"Of course!"
Before I reach the roof I take a look around and already spot some people sneaking about. I signal the worried gang member the number of people I see and where they are before pulling myself up on the roof and dashing over the tiles towards them. It doesn't take long till I have reached the Mariani goons and, upon hearing the battle cries of the Crimson Coin, jump down from the roof onto my first victim, the force of my descent throwing him down as we roll over the floor, with me ending up on top of him. Before he can finish his "What!?" I already am pummeling his face with my brass knuckles, quickly knocking him unconscious. As I keep pummeling away happily, I get kicked off him.
I turn towards the attacker - "Oi, who's tryin' to pick a fight with me?" - only to have an iron pipe smash into my face.
"Gah!" I lick up the blood from my split lip before breaking into a grin. That's just how I like it. While getting up from the ground I throw some dirt at the attacker's face before smashing my right fist into his face while he kicks me into the chest, and both of us tumble away from each other. He readies his pipe for a downward strike - and I charge at him.
As he brings it down I leap forward, the pipe dully impacting my back as I knock him over. As we land on the ground I am already punching his head him with my brass knuckles, and strike his arm with the iron pipe out of the way with an elbow before smashing his head into the ground with a furious blow.
Upon seeing that he has stopped moving I wipe some blood off my chin, get up and kick his head for good measure before heading to the nearby sounds of battle.
...
The battle's over, and I am in the hideout, getting scolded by the captain for not working together with the others.
"But I took down 4 of 'em!"
"You almost died!"
I look down at my body, covered in bandages and with supports for my broken bones before looking up again.
"No Cap', I'm fine."
"Fine my ass! If I see you outside of your bed before you are recovered, I'll make sure you aren't fine!"
"Nice! Cap, you wanna fight?"
"Just shut it and take a rest!"
...
The next morning, I'm already mostly recovered. I wouldn't say that I jumped down from my bed again, but I did. In the assembly hall, I cheerfully greet the captain.
"Sup' Cap?"
He stops upon seeing me before shaking his head. "I'm not even surprised anymore..."
Once the rest of the gang is there, he makes another announcement.
"You guys did a good job yesterday. The manpower of the Mariani is temporarily reduced, so we are planning to raid their hideout tomorrow to kidnap their boss and put an end to this conflict. Any questions?"
I raise my hand, which the captain doesn't seem to notice for a good while. Then, finally, he sighs. "Yes, Canis?"
"Why put an end to this conflict? I like fighting."
"We need to expand and create a stable base so that the guild can't just flush us out."
"Oh. How is that connected?"
"Moving on, any other questions? No? Good. Make sure to be prepared for tomorrow."
...
This is Exal. I have continued my infiltration of the Crimson Coin. They seem to be in conflict with the Mariani, and are planning to raid the Mariani hideout to end the conflict tomorrow. As I have yet to see the rumored left hand of the boss and the boss himself, I suspect that the Crimson Coin has multiple hideouts. Should I continue my infiltration?
You can hide the response and reward in the third dump from the north in the Saint's Street in the slums. The profile of my new personality is added to this letter.
If I do not receive any instructions, I will continue the infiltration and further reports will follow.
Character Sheet - Canis
Gender
Male
Race
Human
Level
3 (895 EXP)
Age
19
Class
Mad Dog
Money
80G
Appearance
Personality
The personality of Canis can essentially be summed up in 2 words - aggressive and merciless. He tends to solve things through violence.
Backstory
Canis used to live in a world which essentially was a single planet, completely covered by a single city. Shunned by his peers due to his violent nature, he had no choice but to turn to crime. Alas, the gang he joined was on the losing side of a conflict. When all hope was lost, he fled through a portal and arrived in this brave new world.
However, these memories are completely fake, as Canis is a fake personality constructed by Exal to infiltrate a criminal network.
Inventory
Skills
Item
Description
Brass Knuckles
A simple pair of bloody brass knuckles
Lavish Clothes
A set of lavish-looking clothes
Crimson Coin Glove
A glove with the symbol of the Crimson Coin
Skill
Description
Dog Fight
Canis excels in extremely close range combat, always finding a way to attack no matter how entangled with the opponent
Fueled by Madness
Instead of shying away from pain, Canis seems to revel in the feeling and the more he gets hit, the more viciously he fights back
A fine job on such an arduous task. Take caution as to not aggravate the situation, these findings shall be reported to the guild. In the meantime, take care on future endeavors if you do so choose to remain on the job, as well as the rewards have been delivered to you're specified location.
Rewards:
150 exp
20 G
OOC: Please mark your post as evaluated in a noticeable way.
Arriving in a brand new world always comes with culture shock.
Come visit the Adventurer's Guild! We're experts on dealing with Otherworlders.
If we can't answer your questions, at least we can point you in the right direction!
You'll definitely survive your first day without a problem... probably!
Rewards:
Points: 35 EXP
Money: n/a
Other: n/a
> > >
Thank you very much. Thank you, for everything. I'm sorry I made you worry. I'm sorry for burdening you with my mistakes.
When she saw me, she was surprised. She was trying to move forward, but I held my hand in front of her, stopping her from moving further. Thank you, I said once again. The tears flowing freely from her eyes, as she know the inevitable.
Don't be sad. It is already the time for me to go, you know?
So, can you let me go, with a smile from yours?
At last, I could see you smile. Goodbye, Meiko.
+++
"A new world traveler? Cain! Can you bring this one to the adventurer guild?"
She should have died. She could feel her body disintegrated, when she said goodbye to her. Her existence should be erased. But then, why was she here, alive?
Was this place the afterlife of men? There was no way for her to be alive, since she died in the real world. There was also the fact that the cycle of reincarnation of digital world denizen like her should have turned her into something like YukimiBotamon, not in this form.
She felt something was wrong. When she expand her senses, she could feel something was different. This place, something was different about this place. Meicoomon couldn't put it to her mind, but this place felt really different than Odaiba or Tottori. There was something that felt missing compared to her place.
"Hey... can you hear me?" The man waved in front of her, distracting her from her rumination.
She focused her sight on the man. The man was making a hand waving motion while saying, "Can you understand me?"
"Yes." Right, why could she understand him? He did not speak Japanese at all.
"Right, welcome to Tonia, traveler." The man said. "We have some traveler like you joining adventurer guild. Do you want to?"
With nothing better to do, she nodded.
+++
"Here we are." The man said. "I suggest after you register, you take those tutorial quests. Pretty Easy, if you ask me."
"Cain, new traveler?" the woman behind the desk said.
"Yeah. She came few minutes ago. Brought her here directly from the gate."
"Right. I'll take it from here. So, what's your name, miss?"
+++
After she finished the registration, the receptionist taught her how to read and write. She could somehow understand which combination of letter correspond to which sound. After all of that was done, the receptionist taught her to properly write quest report. She gave her the quill, paper and ink and asked two questions; about Tonia, scribel City and Adventurer guild and what landmark is there near the adventurer guild.
OOC: just assume that Mei put the description of the adventurer guild, since each adventurer's perception could be different.
Slimes are a pest in Scribel City, and they end up in all sorts of weird places.
While they aren’t too dangerous, they can slowly erode and damage structures over time.
They also spread diseases if they get into the sewers and pick up icky stuff.
Slimes are bad! Eliminating them is a public health campaign!
Rewards:
Points: 75 EXP
Money: 10 G
Other: n/a
After turning the healing herb which he mistakenly forgot 2 more, Vesper went over to the quest board and took the slime subjugation quest. He took out his frost bow and left the building.
Vesper patrolled the city starting with the area closest to the guild. He found 2 slimes near a sewer and readied his bow. A single ice arrow appeared and he aimed it at one of the slimes after a moment of concentration, going for it's core. The arrow hit and the slime burst into a mess of slimes.
The other slime senses damage and quick distanced itself. Seeing that it was about to escape, Vesper readied another arrow and shot it as the slime. It hits the slime and the slime burst like his companion. Vesper went over to pick up the 2 cores and cleaned up the slimey mess with water from his spatial ring. (He used some of his drinking water) Then his put the 2 slime cores into a small pouch and continued on.
Vesper headed to the nearby Market Square and inspect the place. He only found 1 slime which he took care of quickly. Next, he patrolled the house districts and found 2 slimes near the entrance at a wet puddle. Vesper took care of them by taking out Qi Ming since they were only a few inches away. He took their cores and put them in the pouch.
He walk into the neighborhood after cleaning up the slime mess, his eyes looking for slimes. Vesper found 2 near a drain pipe and 3 slimes by a sewer near the side walks.
Vesper readied his bow and aimed at the 2 slimes near drain pipe as 2 ice arrow manifest. One arrow hit and another got away. He quickly aimed another arrow at the escaping smile and this time it hit.
He turned his head towards the sewer and saw the 3 slimes attempting to escape. Vesper readied 3 arrows and shoot. Since they already got quite a distance, only 1 slime got hit. Vesper reacted quickly and aimed 2 more arrows. They hit the escaping slimes and the slime burst into a slimey mess.
Vesper retrieve the 5 smile core and cleaned up the mess. By the time it's all finished and he got the 10 slime cores, it's late afternoon. Vesper got on Qi Ming and speed towards the guild building with his harvest.
Ice Mage Vesper - Level 2
Gender
Male
Race
Luan
Level
2 [300/600]
Age
19
Class
Ice Elementalist
Money
506 Gold
Appearance
Personality
Vesper is positive and proud youth like most of his kins. He's also rather two faced, showing a positive to people who he just met or hardly knows and shows his friends and family a rather annoyingly arrogant person. He's adaptive and can read situations and knows when to retreat, a useful survival skill.
Backstory
Vesper, a name that means the Evening Star, is born of the Luan Race. A bird race with similarities to the phoenix and born with the innate ability to control ice.
He grew up loving music which he occasionally use to control beasts and puppets with his white jade flute. A form of puppeting from his homeland. As a member of his race, Vesper is exceptional with the ice element.
Skills
Skill
Description
Ice Manipulation
The ability to control and manipulate ice to his very imagination
Music Puppeting
Using musical instruments channeled with mana to control beasts and puppets
Archery Proficiency
Exceptional ability with the bow and arrow
Divine Sense
An all purpose soul like part of all human, just some knows it's existence some don't. It can be a spatial storage, the size depend on your mental powers. It can also be used for out of body travels, communicate search your surroundings, and if you have the ability, invade other's minds. (Action not recommended as it can result in fatal injuries if your divine sense is attacked in the progress)
Flying Sword
Mainly used as an aerial transportation tool, it can be also used to attack enemies in form of flying swords. Attack moves are controlled by user's soul, divine sense, spiritual energy or mana power.
As Liana instinctively felt the sun rising, she knew she would need to find somewhere to sleep before noon arrived. Thinking about how her attempts at finding a place last night resulted in the deaths of a child and 3 young teenagers, her mind was wracked with guilt. Remembering how malnourished they seemed, Liana wondered if there were other children in the city in similar situations. Picking up the newly acquired rations from her latest quest, she realised she couldn't carry them and the wine bottle all of the time, and so wondered if she could somehow give them to someone who actually needed them.
Turning to the receptionist, she asked if there were any quests related to giving food to people. The receptionist searched through a compiled list of available quests and found one. "Here! Charity Work." She took out a paper and handed it to Liana.
Collect donations, food, and medical supplies from civilians.
Volunteer your time to help the needy.
Living in a frontier city has its tough moments.
Scribel City has high numbers of orphans and disabled veterans,
and the places that support them are overcrowded.
There simply isn't enough government money to help them all.
Will you step in to lend a hand? Rewards:
"Yes...I need to make up for what I did..." She muttered, before taking the paper and smiling back at the receptionist. "Any recommendations for the places most in need?"
"Of course!" The receptionist then mentioned a few places - mostly orphanages - that were very low on food due to being over capacity. Noting the locations of the nearest orphanages most in need, Liana carried her items in her arms and left - not realising a certain male elf was watching her through an ajar door to the back offices.
Making her way down the brightening streets, Liana eventually found herself standing outside a dilapidated building. Before she even entered the premises, she could hear the screaming, crying and laughter of many children - along with the sounds of lots of feet running around outside.
"Can I help you, Miss?" An thin elderly woman in a simple, well-worn dress asked.
Turning to the woman, Liana smiled gently before lifting her arms slightly to emphasise what she was carrying. "I heard you needed food and I had some to spare."
The elderly woman's eyes lit up as she heard this, before staring at the rations in Liana's arms with anticipation and hunger. "Oh? Then, please come in!" She guided Liana inside the building.
Observing her surroundings as she walked down the corridor - she noticed the wooden walls were rotting in places from dampness, as well as numerous mite holes; a few cockroaches scurried across the floor and into one of the other rooms as they passed. Feeling saddened by the state of things, she knew that this place desperately needed help. Entering a room that seemed slightly cleaner than the rest of the building, the elderly woman motioned for Liana to place the rations on the desk and sit down.
Sitting down herself, the elderly woman then took out a form from a drawer that was slightly knocked off its runner and began filling it in while saying: "Tell me your name, my child, so we can know who to thank for this food."
"I'm known as Liana, and please don't feel like you need to thank me for this. The rations would have gone to waste, otherwise." She smiled wryly as she thought about how she could never eat normal food again.
"I see." The elderly woman then began counting the rations, "15 rations of food. Is that wine bottle also a donation? I'm afraid alcohol wouldn't be suitable for the children, and it's not appropriate for the staff to drink while working."
Liana blushed in embarrassment as she quickly picked the wine bottle up and hugged it in her arms, "Ah, no...This is for my personal use..." She subconsciously used her arms hide the contents from the elderly woman's eyes, not wanting her to realise what was in it.
"Ah, my apologies." The elderly woman glanced at the young woman in front of her - her complexion pale, yet very healthy with no blemishes to speak of with a beautiful, delicate face and gold eyes that seemed to draw you in. "She can't be an alcoholic, since she's not showing such symptoms..." She thought to herself. "Is there anything else you wish to donate, or will this be everything young Miss?"
Liana thought about the situation of the place and about the money her master had given her. Lightly biting her lip, she replied: "...Can I donate some money as well?"
The elderly woman looked up at this and smiled gently, "However much you wish, you can donate, my child. Even a single coin will help keep this orphanage running a little longer."
Liana nodded as she took out the money pouch from inside her dress and smiled brightly, "Okay!" Tipping the pouch upside down over the desk, she emptied the contents out before taking 40G and putting it back into her pouch. "There should be 400G there. Do you think that will help?" She tilted her head as she was unsure if such an amount would be helpful, or not.
The elderly woman's mouth hung open as her eyes were glued to the pile of coins on the desk.
"..."
She remained silent for a few minutes, as her body was completely still from shock. Getting a little worried, Liana leaned forward in a bid to get the woman's attention and hesitantly asked, "Um...Miss? Is it not enough?"
Coming back to reality after having been thinking up all sorts of ways to use the money for repair work and buying more food for the children, the elderly woman looked at Liana with a grateful smile, "This is more than enough to be donating, my child! To be giving us so much of your money and keeping so little for yourself brings warmth to my tired old heart."
The elderly woman filled out more of the form before putting the pen down and looking at the young woman sat in front of her. "Would you like to see the children, Miss Liana?" She asked as she got up from her chair.
Liana thought about her recent interactions with children and thought today would be a good opportunity to redeem herself. A memory of when she was at the temple and playing with the child priestesses-in-training surfaced in her mind before a sharp pain assaulted her head causing the memory to quickly fade away. "I'd love to." She smilingly replied while masking her headache.
The elderly woman smiled at that and guided Liana to where the kids were playing. At first, they were shy and apprehensive since she was a beautiful stranger, but over time her gentle smile won them over and they began crowding around her and playing.
Feeling that noon would be approaching in less than an hour, Liana said her goodbyes before carrying her wine bottle and leaving for the guild to write her report.
Due to the long queues from numerous adventurers handing their own reports in, the time passed by slowly. Finally, with the wine bottle in her arms, she handed in the report with a tired smile on her face, wanting to leave quickly to find somewhere to sleep. Right after the report was evaluated, noon arrived causing poor Liana to fall asleep and collapse on the adventurer behind her - who reflexively dodged out of the way - and hit the ground hard with a loud thwack sound...a pool of blood started forming around her head.
[OOC: Money before - 440G, money after - 40G (before evaluation)
Rations before - 15, Rations after - 0]
Many species of healing herbs can be found throughout the world.
A special type of grass with healing properties is known to grow in this area.
The guild would like to stockpile on these herbs for emergencies.
Make sure that you're collecting the right kind of plant though!
We don't want a sack of ordinary grass!
~ Me and Gobo successfully harvested 5 small bags of healing herbs, however we had a problem while we were harvesting. For the first time , Gobo noticed a goblin near the healing herb area. Unfortunately, while me and Gobo tried to hide until the goblin left, we were discovered. We ran towards the riverbed near the Float Ferns and I threw the Float Fern at the incoming goblin. We esacaped, while the goblin started rising into the air. When we got back we told the guards of our encounter. Perhaps you could send someone to go investigate this Goblin sighting?~
I woke up Gobo and had him go down to have breakfast for the day. We say our thanks to the staff and start are day, by walking to the Adventurers Guild. I walked up to the guild counter and asked for another Herb Collecting quest today. While I was accepting the quest, the receptionist told us to be careful of goblins. Adventurers have reported more goblin sighting then the usually since the first camp was wiped out. I took note of the receptionist warning and bought another 10 small empty herb bag. After that we left and went to go grab our usually supplies for the day, a couple of loafs of bread and cheese. Gobo made an empty sigh about another day of just bread and cheese. I told him that today we could buy a big piece of meat today and let the Tavern cook it for us when we get back today. Gobo we very happy today while we set out the gate, too complete our quest for today.
We finally get to herb field and start foraging around. Gobo and I have gotten used to finding these type of healing herbs easily now. We got finished collecting our 5 small herb bags quickly and so we had a lot of extra time before lunch. I decided to collect a few bags of the Tri-Flowers, while we had extra time. Collecting this Tri-Flowers took a large timely amount because I couldn't let Gobo collect it, so I had too use my Light magic to slowly dig out each and every flower. Eventually I finished collecting about 5 bags full for Tri-Flower and we start to have our lunch near the riverbed.
Nearing our lunch, I hear Gobo make a low growl. He start's pointing in a direction and telling me in hand forms that something is nearby. I rushed to tell Gobo to take us to a nearby bush and hide, until the goblin leaves the area. We see the goblin, it has a small rag as a cover and a dagger in it's pocket. It is approaching the river bed, more concerningly the spot where Gobo and I ate at. It seems Gobo left some bread and cheese, while we were rushing to hide in the bushes. The goblin finally arrives at the spot of our lunch and it starts to sniff around the area. Me and Gobo try to stay as quiet as we can. As the goblin sniffs the area, we can see it coming closer and closer towards the bush the I and Gobo are hiding at. I tell Gobo that when I flash the goblin the my Light magic, too start running towards the town.
"NOW!" I cast Light, too make a large flash of light in front of the incoming goblin. The goblin is blinded for a few seconds and while that happened, Gobo starting running towards the town as fast as he could. While Gobo is running is hard as he could, I notice the goblin is catching up to us, looking very angry. I could tell that it would catch up to us before we could make it to the nearest guard post or town. I had to find something to help us escape or least get rid of this goblin chasing us. As Gobo is running I see the faint light near the river bed. It's a nearby Float Fern and just then I had a plan. "Gobo, go towards that Float Fern!". Gobo started running towards the Float Fern, the goblin still hot on our tail. Approaching the Float Fern, I cast Light and make a bubble to encase the Float Fern. I tell to Gobo to stop and turn towards the goblin, so that I could get a precise shot at the goblin. The goblin fast approaching us, I threw the Float Fern at it, as hard as I could. "Yes it hit!". The goblin confused why it couldn't run forwards towards us anymore, while it starts to float into the air. "Ok Gobo let's go!".
Gobo and I finally get back to town. Gobo is still breathing quite heavy from all this running today, not that I could blame him. While we enter from the gate, the guard ask us what the problem was and I tell him about our encounter with goblin. He takes note of it and will tell the guard to take appropriate actions because of this finding. Gobo takes us to the Adventurer's Guild to turn in our quest and report in our finding about the goblin encounter as well. While we were turning in our 5 herb pouches I noticed that out of 15 of my healing herb pouches, some of them got smashed and ruined. It looks like they were messed up while we were on the run. Luckily I picked extra for my self, or may be I would have failed the quest. I also explain the situation of the goblin chase to the receptionist and to also thank her for the warning about the goblin.
We exited the Adventurer's Guild and start heading towards Cecila's Grocery store to buy Gobo his meat for today, he definitely deserved it considering today. Gobo is looking at which piece of meat he want's today, like a kid at a candy store. He eventually decides on a big slab of beef. I pay 8g for the beef and we set out towards the Tavern. When we get to Tavern we say our hello's to Pierre and tell of our story about the goblin. We also ask him if he could ask the chef, so coulds cook this slab of beef for Gobo. Pierre comes back and tells us the cook said that he could. Eventually Gobo's huge piece of meat comes out of the kitchen and unto our table. "Good job today Gobo and Thank you". Gobo smiles back and then starts gorging himself with his reward for today.
We pay for today's room and board and head up to our rooms for tonight's rest. Gobo with a full stomach put's me on the window still and he walks clumsily to his bed, still patting his stomach. Gobo falls asleep and think about today's encounter. May be we should stop going to the healing herb fields for now and we should get Gobo and I some protection as well. Well I will figure it out tomorrow.
Many species of healing herbs can be found throughout the world.
A special type of grass with healing properties is known to grow in this area.
The guild would like to stockpile on these herbs for emergencies.
Make sure that you're collecting the right kind of plant though!
We don't want a sack of ordinary grass!
Rewards:
Points: 45 EXP
Money: 20 G
Other: n/a
> > >
Owner work...... tired....
Plant strange.... blue line.... blue plant....
Warm..... strange......
...
......
...........
Iris get plant.... owner sad.... cold...
Cold.... owner sad.... Iris sad....
Iris obey owner.....
...
......
............
Owner want strange plant.... Iris obey.... Iris get strange plants....
Owner happy.... Iris happy.... warm....
Warm....
Owner hand Iris head..... scared..... warm?...
Warm.....
Warm.....
Happy.....
....... Reival.......
Greetings to you Guild
I have foraged as such on the healing grass with the worth of 5 small sacks. My confidence on these findings is in relation as close as to a nil. However, lady Iris deems it is so as a healing grass, as thus I hope the results are as positive as they claim to be.
Many species of healing herbs can be found throughout the world.
A special type of grass with healing properties is known to grow in this area.
The guild would like to stockpile on these herbs for emergencies.
Make sure that you're collecting the right kind of plant though!
We don't want a sack of ordinary grass!
Rewards:
Points: 45 EXP
Money: 20 G
Other: n/a
> > >
Owner work...... tired....
Plant strange.... blue line.... blue plant....
Warm..... strange......
...
......
...........
Iris get plant.... owner sad.... cold...
Cold.... owner sad.... Iris sad....
Iris obey owner.....
...
......
............
Owner want strange plant.... Iris obey.... Iris get strange plants....
Owner happy.... Iris happy.... warm....
Warm....
Owner hand Iris head..... scared..... warm?...
Warm.....
Warm.....
Happy.....
....... Reival.......
Greetings to you Guild
I have foraged as such on the healing grass with the worth of 5 small sacks. My confidence on these findings is in relation as close as to a nil. However, lady Iris deems it is so as a healing grass, as thus I hope the results are as positive as they claim to be.
At service to you, Lancer Reival and Lady Iris
OOC: I wonder if I'm expressing what she's thinking and reacting as best as I can with such few words.
'Well, first things first, I saw the Hydra. Or at least I'm hoping that that's the rumoured Hydra, because if something roughly the height of Gelderholm's walls and in possession of nine heads isn't the Hydra in the reports, then we're going to have a lot of fun. I say roughly, because I dipped right out the moment I spotted the first head rising from the lake, and didn't pause until I was a very respectable distance away and hiding in the foliage. From there I observed.
Since the closest path to the Lake was kinda riddled with snakes of all kinds, I ended up taking the long way around, all the way across the other side of the lake. It did take a bit longer, but I'd say it's very worth it; I came across what I'd describe as a...breeding ground. Eggs of all shapes and sizes scattered about randomly, just sitting in piles by themselves.
I figured the size of the nest was way too small to keep up with the number of snakes assaulting the walls every day, until I explored deeper into the nest.
F***ing hell.
Let's just say that if someone could sneak back here with a cluster of firebombs, they could do some serious damage to snake production and maybe even cripple it. It'll be a mercy to the...breeding chambers...as well, and I refuse to emphasize further. I've marked it down on the map if anyone wants to do the honours.
As for the poisonous fields...well, I don't know how poisonous they were previously, but right now it's basically a distribution centre for toxic waste, because it now resembles a swampland and the murky greenish water definitely ain't caused by mud. From where I was, I could see snakes swimming across the f***ing liquid surface and then straightening out to mimic floating sticks. Yeah, you'll have to pardon me, but I'm not wading in there blindly. Even my instincts are screaming for me to stay away.
After that I resumed my patrol, and made my way along the southern part of the lake which was where I spotted the Hydra(?). Several of it's heads were staring at a smaller three-headed snake, but otherwise looked bored. Nothing much happened beyond that.
Was what I was hoping to say.
Instead, I looked on as one of the heads brought out what appeared to be a tiny golden box held within it's mouth. A smaller snake then pushed the lid open and some sort of gas floated out, enveloping the smaller snakes that had gathered on the opposite shore.
I watched as most of them underwent very rapid transformation; I recognised the spike throwers and the shields and the frilly things, but there were also another bunch of weird looking snakes mixed in the batch. Some of those were flying. And as soon as the gas disappeared the now matured snakes crawled off, heading in the direction of the dwarven city. Just to be certain, I staked out for a couple hours more and saw it happening again in the afternoon, before packing up and heading back to Gelderholm myself.
Basically, that seems to be the way the Hydra gets the numbers for the attacks on Gelderholm. The nests hatched scores of small and weak grass snakes every day, then they gathered to the Hydra and the weird gas from the box turned most of those into stronger, deadlier adult snakes. Then they leave to attack Gelderholm. On the flip side, besides a couple of three-headed snakes, the Hydra didn't seem to be too tightly guarded whenever it's not doing it's golden box trick.
Perhaps an opportunity to fight back can be found somewhere.'
With my encounter with Iris in the forest before, I forgot to pick up the wood I was gathering when running away from the goblin. Well what's done is done so I decided to take a job on the way.
> > >
Woodcutter in the Forest
Sponsor: Adventurer's Guild
Location: North Scribel Forest
Required Level: 2
Objectives:
Go to the North Scribel Forest.
Collect a cart full of firewood.
Note: There is a penalty for losing/breaking the cart.
Are you afraid of the forest? Monsters and goblins lurk in its depths.
Yet the city runs on firewood, and somebody needs to go chop trees.
Are you courageous enough to risk the dangers?
Rewards:
Points: 75 EXP
Money: 10 G
Other: n/a
> > >
Taking the job, it should be simple enough with the stone axe I have. Do I still need equipment just incase? Nah, it should be fine this time around. I took the cart that was nearby the guild and head off to northern forest. Iris was quietly following me like it's a natural thing. She was quiet the whole time, until now she still has that deadpan look.
We arrived at the edge of the northern forest and looking at the size of the trees, I can pretty much guess we only need to cut down two trees to fill the cart.
"Ok Iris, don't go into the forest. Stay near me."
After saying as such, she only stares at me with a dead look then goes and sits near the cart. Satisfied, I approach one tree and start chopping away. With my abnormal strength, it's easy to fell down a tree but the process into small firewood takes still takes quite an amount of time. I trim down all the branches around the log then proceed to chop it into smaller pieces. With one tree down, I repeat the process to the second one and make quick work of it.
Now that the second log is done, I start loading the cart only to find Iris gone. Where is she?! I face all directions but she is nowhere to be found. What am I gonna do?! Don't tell me she got dragged off by a monster while I was working. No, she should've screamed then right? but, she barely says anything at all though..... While trying rack my brain on what to do, a rustling sound was coming from the forest. I readied myself when I saw what came out behind the tree. It was Iris, noticeably she was carrying a green plant in one of her hand.
Sigh.... This girl is gonna give a heart attack. That's a cruel joke dying from heart attack at a young age. Feeling relieved, I walked towards Iris.
"Hey, where were you? I was worried that you disappeared."
As if my worry was nothing to her, her expressionless state was unchanging.
"Plant.... weird blue..."
She showed me the plant in her hand, it was one of the green grass plants in the forest. I didn't know what she was saying about he plant being blue, it's still the same green plant no matter how many times I see it.
"Iris, when you're gonna go somewhere away from me, tell me first ok? I don't wanna get worried about you again. Come on, help me load the cart. We're gonna go back now."
We both load the cart filled with firewood along plenty of spares for a job I'm gonna take in the future. While pulling the cart back to city, it bothered me what Iris meant about the plant being blue. Then I remembered something about healing grass, it was said that it may look like a normal green grass but it can be differed by sensing the mana it's giving off. Does that mean she can sense mana?
We finally arrived at the guild and parked the cart near the guild then filed the report. Peeking my curiosity, I loaded all of the excess firewood I have in my room then decided to take that job.
Greetings to you Guild
The proclamation of firewood has been upheld. Two logs worth of fire, chopped into carriable size, has filled the cart. I hope this amount will sustain the city for a fair amount of time.
As Liana instinctively felt the sun rising, she knew she would need to find somewhere to sleep before noon arrived. Thinking about how her attempts at finding a place last night resulted in the deaths of a child and 3 young teenagers, her mind was wracked with guilt. Remembering how malnourished they seemed, Liana wondered if there were other children in the city in similar situations. Picking up the newly acquired rations from her latest quest, she realised she couldn't carry them and the wine bottle all of the time, and so wondered if she could somehow give them to someone who actually needed them.
Turning to the receptionist, she asked if there were any quests related to giving food to people. The receptionist searched through a compiled list of available quests and found one. "Here! Charity Work." She took out a paper and handed it to Liana.
"Want to take it?"
"Yes...I need to make up for what I did..." She muttered, before taking the paper and smiling back at the receptionist. "Any recommendations for the places most in need?"
"Of course!" The receptionist then mentioned a few places - mostly orphanages - that were very low on food due to being over capacity. Noting the locations of the nearest orphanages most in need, Liana carried her items in her arms and left - not realising a certain male elf was watching her through an ajar door to the back offices.
Making her way down the brightening streets, Liana eventually found herself standing outside a dilapidated building. Before she even entered the premises, she could hear the screaming, crying and laughter of many children - along with the sounds of lots of feet running around outside.
"Can I help you, Miss?" An thin elderly woman in a simple, well-worn dress asked.
Turning to the woman, Liana smiled gently before lifting her arms slightly to emphasise what she was carrying. "I heard you needed food and I had some to spare."
The elderly woman's eyes lit up as she heard this, before staring at the rations in Liana's arms with anticipation and hunger. "Oh? Then, please come in!" She guided Liana inside the building.
Observing her surroundings as she walked down the corridor - she noticed the wooden walls were rotting in places from dampness, as well as numerous mite holes; a few cockroaches scurried across the floor and into one of the other rooms as they passed. Feeling saddened by the state of things, she knew that this place desperately needed help. Entering a room that seemed slightly cleaner than the rest of the building, the elderly woman motioned for Liana to place the rations on the desk and sit down.
Sitting down herself, the elderly woman then took out a form from a drawer that was slightly knocked off its runner and began filling it in while saying: "Tell me your name, my child, so we can know who to thank for this food."
"I'm known as Liana, and please don't feel like you need to thank me for this. The rations would have gone to waste, otherwise." She smiled wryly as she thought about how she could never eat normal food again.
"I see." The elderly woman then began counting the rations, "15 rations of food. Is that wine bottle also a donation? I'm afraid alcohol wouldn't be suitable for the children, and it's not appropriate for the staff to drink while working."
Liana blushed in embarrassment as she quickly picked the wine bottle up and hugged it in her arms, "Ah, no...This is for my personal use..." She subconsciously used her arms hide the contents from the elderly woman's eyes, not wanting her to realise what was in it.
"Ah, my apologies." The elderly woman glanced at the young woman in front of her - her complexion pale, yet very healthy with no blemishes to speak of with a beautiful, delicate face and gold eyes that seemed to draw you in. "She can't be an alcoholic, since she's not showing such symptoms..." She thought to herself. "Is there anything else you wish to donate, or will this be everything young Miss?"
Liana thought about the situation of the place and about the money her master had given her. Lightly biting her lip, she replied: "...Can I donate some money as well?"
The elderly woman looked up at this and smiled gently, "However much you wish, you can donate, my child. Even a single coin will help keep this orphanage running a little longer."
Liana nodded as she took out the money pouch from inside her dress and smiled brightly, "Okay!" Tipping the pouch upside down over the desk, she emptied the contents out before taking 40G and putting it back into her pouch. "There should be 400G there. Do you think that will help?" She tilted her head as she was unsure if such an amount would be helpful, or not.
The elderly woman's mouth hung open as her eyes were glued to the pile of coins on the desk.
"..."
She remained silent for a few minutes, as her body was completely still from shock. Getting a little worried, Liana leaned forward in a bid to get the woman's attention and hesitantly asked, "Um...Miss? Is it not enough?"
Coming back to reality after having been thinking up all sorts of ways to use the money for repair work and buying more food for the children, the elderly woman looked at Liana with a grateful smile, "This is more than enough to be donating, my child! To be giving us so much of your money and keeping so little for yourself brings warmth to my tired old heart."
The elderly woman filled out more of the form before putting the pen down and looking at the young woman sat in front of her. "Would you like to see the children, Miss Liana?" She asked as she got up from her chair.
Liana thought about her recent interactions with children and thought today would be a good opportunity to redeem herself. A memory of when she was at the temple and playing with the child priestesses-in-training surfaced in her mind before a sharp pain assaulted her head causing the memory to quickly fade away. "I'd love to." She smilingly replied while masking her headache.
The elderly woman smiled at that and guided Liana to where the kids were playing. At first, they were shy and apprehensive since she was a beautiful stranger, but over time her gentle smile won them over and they began crowding around her and playing.
Feeling that noon would be approaching in less than an hour, Liana said her goodbyes before carrying her wine bottle and leaving for the guild to write her report.
Due to the long queues from numerous adventurers handing their own reports in, the time passed by slowly. Finally, with the wine bottle in her arms, she handed in the report with a tired smile on her face, wanting to leave quickly to find somewhere to sleep. Right after the report was evaluated, noon arrived causing poor Liana to fall asleep and collapse on the adventurer behind her - who reflexively dodged out of the way - and hit the ground hard with a loud thwack sound...a pool of blood started forming around her head.
[OOC: Money before - 440G, money after - 40G (before evaluation)
Rations before - 15, Rations after - 0]
Deliver the Special Communication Device to the secret agent.
Complete the mission without blowing anyone's cover.
Description:
The Scribel City Council has determined that the pirate city of Spire Reef is a regional threat. However, our city is too small to antagonize the Pirate Kings and their vast armadas. We cannot risk war with the pirate empire. Instead, your superiors have determined that creating a spy network is essential for our best interests. Please deliver the Special Communication Device to our agent so we can establish a secret branch of the Adventurer's Guild in Spire Reef.
Report - Solet' Luna
Picking up the quest regarding the Spire Reef, I immediately began journeying to the Prisoner's Knoll. To be honest, I just missed the dirty and chaotic atmosphere of the pirate world. It reminded me of my previous life. Although the scent of the slum was vomit-inducing and murky, it would help me relax, as if I went back to the simple time when I used to live as a homeless after escaping the first witch hunt. No future, no impending danger, and no goal. I sometimes wondered what would happen if I never came out of that place, and live the rest of my life as an ordinary person.
"The Spire Reef, huh? Miss Luna, with your current standing, I could only offer you a few hints—" Recalling the information I bought from the Merchant Guild using the privilege of the Golden Card, I found out that there was indeed the existence of shamans and witches. However, their number was low due to various reasons. One of them was that the mortality rate of exploring the ocean was high, and one accidental encounter with strong sea creatures could mean the end of one's career.
Speaking about sea creatures, the Branch Leader did hint to me that something strange might be going on within the Spire Reef. The rise of Seven Pirate Kings was not as clear as the history recorded, and many contradictions could be found when digging a little deeper. Their reach, although seemed shallow, would not be as short as we thought about. After all, the Spire Reef did not descend into lawless state despite not having the local authority, at least the above-ground authority.
The journey towards the Spire Reed was as uneventful as it could be. It seemed that the bandits feared the pirates very much. They would never come near my new appearance, which resembled a female pirate. Of course, some of the brave ones, or rather the foolish ones, approached me, but, when I showed my ice magic and killed one of them, the others quickly escaped, making me unable to get all of them. In the end, I tried to search for the Skull Coin, but it seemed that the coin was quite rare, as I was unable to get any. It seemed that I got lucky the previous time.
After entering the Spire Reef, I immediately went to one of the taverns to eardrop some of the news regarding the current situation of the sea. It seemed that the sea was somewhat unstable at the moment, with the sighting of the Kraken, the mysterious sea creature with the appearance of the gigantic squid-like tentacles coiling around its unknown true body. This beast was hailed as one of the Kings of the Black Sea. Only the pirate ships under the direct order of the Pirate Kings could survive against its mighty assault.
That's right, the name of the sea was the Black Sea, coming from its unusual phenomenon when, during an unpredictable period, a strange mist would engulf a part of the sea, making that part of the sea turned black, even the seawater below the mist was not an exception. Inside the Black Storm, many unexplained wonders were reportedly spotted, like finding various sunken ships voyaged around as if they had not sunken yet.
"Wha' did ye jus' say t' me? Huh? Jus' a mama's sprog 'n ye still wants t' die?" An angry shout disrupted my train of thought, making me gaze at the origin of the shout. A giant of a man was standing in front of another figure who was holding a bottle of rum. Both of them were undoubtedly drunk, and it seemed like things were starting to get interesting from this point.
"Says I 'move yer fat arse away, ye're blockin' me view'. Wha' are ye goin' t' do? Slap me wit' that slow hand o' yers?" The giant man, angered to the point of reddening, flipped the table and punched the rum-holding man. In that instant, the tavern trembled in excitement like the sound of cheering and swearing echoed inside it. Various men and women were drawn by the atmosphere and vented out their emotions, descending into random fistfights all around.
I, somewhat excited, tried to remain calm and watched the progress of the fight. However, even if I did not intend to do anything, one of the fighting men fell in front of me, knocking my table and my precious drink down. The drink spilt over to the person near me, making them angry and shouted at both me and the fallen man. The chaos of the situation had infected the whole tavern, and now, everyone was fighting in excitement and delight.
"Walk th' plank!! How dare ye dirty me good stuff?!" Seeing that the fight was inevitable, I stood up and kicked the chair towards the man, hitting him on his knee and punched his stomach. Although my body was not as strong as that of a Paladin, with the strengthening of the Elemental Body as well as the training of Solet, I could somewhat rival in raw power with the strong muscle of the pirates. In one punch, the man cried out in pain and dropped onto the floor.
"Yeah— This is fun!" Unconsciously mumbling to myself, I decided to test the limit of my current body, which got somewhat stronger since the day I completed the E Rank Exam. Well, the better my performance was, the more likely my future plan would succeed.
However, after fighting with a few more guys, I realised something. The pirates, even though they were just lowly lackeys, possessed a super durable body, especially some that had their tattoos glowed when they got hit, or just when they attacked. From my estimation, if a group of ordinary pirates were to raid the Scribel City, we would take at least twice amounts of city guards to repel them off. Compared to the peaceful Scribel City, the Spire Reef was a lot more dangerous and chaotic, making the overall strength of the people here a lot better than from the City.
"Wee beauty... ye're a fast one, aren't ye? Well, unlucky fer ye, darin' t' mess wit' us th' Sea Snail!" Somehow, I found myself getting ganked on by a group of pirates. It seemed that I had beaten their comrades too hard, and they had come to get revenge.
After fighting for a whole half an hour, I could hardly endure a group fight. The strong booze also dealt me a blow, making my mind somewhat blurry. My body, sored and tired, should not be over-exhausted right now. Even more, I could feel that the chaos was about to end, as a lot of time had passed already, and the local leader would come in to calm things down now.
"Five of you, let see how strong my sorcery is now..." I raised my hand and created a cold air at the tip of my finger. The air blew outwards, blowing my bandana out and revealing my long, slivery-blue hair. They danced along with the wind as if they were mimicking the motion of the wave, slow and elegant.
"Milady, show mercy!" Witnessing the strange bluish shade engulfing the surrounding area around me, the pirates slowly back away. When they realised that there were icicles formed on their equipment and swords, their face turned pale as the cold air made their body trembling. They asked for forgiveness even though I hadn't done anything of significant yet. It seemed that sorcery and magic were feared by ordinary people, making me somewhat curious about the general standing of the witches and shamans inside the Spire Reef.
"Shut yer gibberish 'n stop yer trouble! Anyone fightin' more will walk th' plank!" A loud shout caused everyone to stop their action and looked at the broken doors of the tavern. There, a group of tattoos-filled pirates stood in front of a somewhat pale man holding a smoking pipe in his hand. Although his build was smaller than the rest of his crew, his face, filled with various scars, looked a lot more terrifying than his crews. One black eyepatch on his face, as well as an artificial dark-wood arm filled with many strange symbols. It must be sorcery-powered arm!
"Now, now, everyone relaxes... For the sake of me, shouldn't you all be friendly and kind to one another?" Although his voice did not have any hint of threat, the rest of the pirates inside the tavern trembled as they showed a fake smile, agreeing to one another as if they were best friends. It seemed that this man was kind outside but ruthless to the bone from the inside.
"Everyone, please allow me to have some time with this lady... It seems that she has something to say with me." His smile, wicked to the bone, caused everyone not from his group to stand up and bid farewell to each other before strolling out of the tavern in an orderly manner. The strange scene was out of my expectation, as the man pointed his hand towards me and signalled for me to come to him.
"Milady, may I have the honour to know your name?" His bow, uniform and polite, gave him the air of aristocracy. If not for the scars, no one would believe that he was indeed a captain of a strong crew. He knew that I was a magic user, probably watching me when I was displaying my ice magic. Well, it was my plan all along, joining a decent crew wasn't easy, but if one had a decent ability, then it was the matter of time to place a place you wanted.
"Sire, this one named Luna, was merely a travelling witch, trying to collect relics and knowledge regarding the great truth of Tonia." I spoke with my mystical voice, making my disposition somewhat dreamy and mysterious. However, it was the truth that I wished to unearth the great truth about Tonia, just not now, and would probably take a long time to actually begin doing so.
"Such a lady of quality and intellect! Madam Luna, would you bestow me the courage to receive your grace? Our Misty Puppeteer lacked a great beauty like Miss, and we are more than delighted to have your blessing on our ship." The man did not beat around the bush and give me a direct invitation, to my surprise.
"Sire, it would be my intention to serve you." After a moment of consideration, I thought about everything and concluded that I should be taking this offer. After all, the other party had some urgency that required the assistance of a witch. If not, the captain would never try to tempt me with his relics and wealth. So, this opportunity must be grasped, as it might never present itself again.
Looking at the scarred face of the captain, I thought about something and kneeled down, placing my hand on my chest and used my ice magic to create a complex symbol embedded on it. A moon-like design emerged from my backhand and glowed in pale blue as if I had signed a contract and swore a vow.
"This lowly witch, named Luna, shall serve her benefactor and never betray the Misty Puppeteer, for the Lord shall watch over her—" Holding the hand of the captain, I brought it closer and gently kissed his backhand, before channelling my ice power to create a barrier-like field that radiated cold wind. The scene looked holy and mystical, and I was sure that everyone would be under the impression of the higher power.
"Good, good, good! Witch Luna, you're now a part of our family! With your magnificent display of loyalty and power, I'll hereby grant you the position of Second Mate." A whisper of surprise exploded after the captain said his piece. From my little knowledge purchased from the Merchant Guild, Second Mate, although placed higher in the hierarchy than the Quartermaster, actually had lower authority than the Quartermaster, but, for a newcomer to actually have the position immediately, it would be surprising for many.
"Then, let us escort Madam Luna to visit our lovely beauty. All Hand Hoy!" In contrast to his gentle expression to me, the captain turned into a different beast when dealing with his crewmembers. It seemed that his ruthless side was the one operating the ship and controlling the orders of the ship.
"Aye, cap'n!" Along the way, I listened to the conversation of the crewmembers. I found out that the Captain, before having me, had one witch on board, and after a tragic misplan, the captain lost one of his arm and the witch, resulting in the current situation where he could not find any witch or shaman to fill in the rank. After all, the witches were not common, and most would already have been snatched by other crews.
The Captain, Sir Borik Lochton, was a fallen noble from a faraway land. Although he never told anyone where his kingdom was, everyone knew that he entered this land as a homeless person who got sent to the Spire Reef from the remote ocean, getting thrown away alongside many wreckages after his ship got hit by a storm.
As a captain, he possessed a strong leader disposition and was well-versed in the art of persuasion, navigation, and fleet battlement. Rivalled by the strong crew called the Poisonous Rustlers, they had fought multiple times, and most of the times, the Misty Puppeteer would emerge victoriously. If not for the loss of their Second Mate witch, the Poisonous Rustlers would never suppress them.
"Madam Luna, here's your room, as the position of the Second Mate, you would have everything at your fingertip, if you desire, even cabin boys and girls are not off-limit." One of the female mates escorted me to my room before leaving with such a sensual remark. It seemed that slaves and the escapees were used as cabin boys and girls.
The room, although old, was in a strangely perfect condition. The wooden floor and the walls had the sea-like scent embedded onto them, but their texture was still passable, on the account that the ship had been used for years. The belonging of the previous witch, including various relics and potions, was still on the table and the shelves. I guessed that the captain wished to reward me with these things as a way to tempt me to work hard for him.
On the desk, I found a worn-out book of ritual. Inside it was various tidbits of tattoo arts and sea sorcery, which was new and novel to me. The detail inside this book was precious, making me reaffirmed my quest in developing some fame in this Spire Reef. After all, if I was strong enough, the spy that Guildmaster sent here would find his way to contact me. I didn't know why, but the Guildmaster seemed to never be there when I wanted to ask him about the feature of the spy... Well, locating the spy and handing the device was not my main objective anyway.
As I used the Misty Puppeteer as my base, I continued to study the book of ritual and occasionally helped out with the fleet battle. Due to the nature of my elemental sorcery, the sea body became my domain of destruction. I caused rain and small-scaled storm to overthrow the balance of the battle and secured swift, thunderous victory for my Misty Puppeteer Ship. As a result, some of the booties were prepared specially for me, including various relics and gems. The disapproving gaze of the old mates turned into fear and admiration.
As for tattoo art, I had tried a little. Although I could only do some basic enhancement, the mates were joyous beyond words as they begged me to help them become stronger. The enhancement included some physical strengthening, endurance strengthening, mental strengthening, and explosive speed. Every time one activated their non-passive tattoo, they would feel exhausted afterwards. The tattoo would drain their vitality and boost their combat power for a moment.
The way of life for pirates was simple yet risky. Most of the time, their jobs were raiding the merchant ships and demanded protection fees. Usually, the merchants would obediently hand over the fee and we would let them go. After all, fighting against the merchants were not wise, making an enemy with no long-term benefits in mind was not the way to live. Of course, when they resist, we just needed to threaten them with some kills and plundered, and they would accept their fate. Only the most insane of them would fight to the death with us, usually, those who tried to defy us would fall very quickly, the merchant ship would never be able to compare to the pirate ship.
If nothing strange happened, I only needed to supervise the raid with the captain and the higher-up of the Misty Puppeteer. Just my presence alone brought courage to our mates and despair to the enemies.
The silvery sea-like hair that fluttered and resonated with the wave of the Black Sea. The golden eyes that radiated the fury of the god of the sea. With one wave of her hand, the sea trembled and froze in her presence, bringing countless storms and blizzards to annihilate fleets of mortals who dared stood before her. The Silvery Witch of the Black Sea, or Blizzard Witch, as they called me.
Of course, bringing countless storms with a wave of one hand was just some nonsense they exaggerated. Fury of the sea god radiated from my eyes? Well, just some rumours turned myths. If I could do all that, then I would already conquer the Spire Reef for my own purpose.
Nevertheless, the power of the sea witches was no small deal. Although my sorcery seemed grander in scale, their trickery was a lot more mysterious and hidden than I expected. Ability to kill someone with just one strand of their hair? That was one of the tricks of the shamans. Drop someone dead by uttering one word? A powerful witch could really do that. Their existence made me wondered about the true power of the Seven Pirate Kings who ruled over this chaotic state.
During my stay, I once encounter a real witch, named Worm Mistress. She was interested in my way of sorcery and tried to capture me for her own research. As a result, we fought for a bit before retreating to each other's respective base, knowing that our power was somewhat equal. The wounds that witch inflicted would reek of worms and maggots, and became insanely hard to heal up, even with Solet's holy magic and the guild's healing potions. Of course, my ice magic also inflicted great trouble to her, making her Mana circulation stagnant and unstable.
In the end, we came to reconcile and ask for methods to heal back up, in exchange for our strong trade partner relationship. Although she did not say anything, that Worm Mistress seemed to be interested in not just my art, but also my figure. She had hinted several times that if I wished so, she would spend a night with me. The people around here were surely fierce in their pursuit of pleasure.
The day we battled against the Poisonous Rustlers was the day I tried to use the worm-infested spell Worm Mistress told me. The result, I could create one undead-like being by using one Corpse Worm to drill into a corpse and control their movement. Of course, their mobility and power would decrease more than half, but the mental defence of the Poisonous Rustlers was shattered like a thin layer of glass against a cannonball. To battle against the force that resurrected their teammate against them? The mates quickly surrendered or fled into the sea by jumping the plank.
Corpse Worm, although mystical, was extremely hard to nurture. Even with my resource and knowledge, I could only successfully nurture only one of them during the ten days period. Its cost-effect ratio was not optimal, but the experiment could be considered a success, so I would not complain too much.
The days passed rather quickly, and soon, months had already gone by. During the time I spent researching the secret of tattoo art, we encountered many setbacks, including various sea creature battles and the deadly phenomenon of the Black Sea. When the misty thickened, I witnessed a majestic wat between two great fleets, glowing in greenish light. The pirate fleets of unknown origin against the armies of sentient sea creatures. The scale of the battle was out of the world, shocking even me, who witnessed the collapse of a country and the war between the believers' of the Lord and the Magus Council.
When witnessing the battle, it was as if the sky was collapsing and the ocean was sinking. Although the impact of the battle was all fake and mental, many of the ordinary mates had a heart attack and died by the sheer mental pressure the illusionary battle had on them. After the battle, I tried to find the news regarding the sentient sea creatures. It was around this time that the Worm Mistress sent me an invitation to join the yearly Witch and Shaman Conference.
Supervised by the powerful witches and shamans within the Spire Reef, they formed a formidable group of interest that used their collective power to pressure and negotiate with the Seven Pirate Kings. As I was never its member, the Worm Mistress specifically had to invite me with her quota as a voucher.
When arrived, I was greeted with the sight I had never seen before. An island raised from the sea when the time was right, filled with various races wearing countless strange accessories. Everyone within the island was magic-user, and they exchanged knowledge and relics as if they were shopping in a market. Compared to them, I could only see myself as the middle-tier of the power level here, and I could not be compared to the powerhouses that supervised the security of the place.
It was in here that I learnt about the secret treaty originated from the ancient time. Before the Seven Pirate Kings rose to prominent, the Spire Reef was under the supreme regime of some kind of city lord. The lord, titled Great Treasurer, had countless artefacts under his commands and had Thirteen Guardians as his most trust aids. His reign was unshakeable, and if not for the sea-shattering battle against another regime, the Underwater Kingdom, the Seven Pirate Kings would never come to the rule of the Spire Reef.
After the battle, the Great Treasurer disappeared, many assumed that he died, but some also told that the lord has just struggled in a sealing formation of the Underwater Kingdom. His Thirteen Guardians, only seven survived to resume his regime, becoming the Seven Pirate Kings of today. This was the reason why the Pirate Kings had unshakeable trust in each other, and would never openly fight each other to death.
At first, I also thought that this was merely a tale of deception and fable. However, after knowing that there was a great artefact capable of repelling the Kraken residing inside the Spire Reef, I wasn't so sure anymore. After all, it shouldn't be possible with just the power of the Seven Pirate Kings to threaten the King of the Black Sea itself.
Even after his supposed death, no one could find the secret vault of the Great Treasurer. Maybe the Pirate Kings had already taken care of them, or they too were searching for the unimaginable wealth. Rumour had it that the city lord had scattered countless clues throughout the Spire Reef's ancient architecture.
To my surprise, I found the sentient sea creatures within the Conference. Their body, resembled a mixture of humanoid being and fish, was filled with tough scales and mucus-like substance. The most obvious features about them were the fin-like organ they used to travel under the sea and breathe underwater. They were not just one race, but a collective of many. Naga, Merfolk, Siren and many more. Most of them were female-dominant races, and they were very beautiful to behold. Of course, as if it was tradition, they were extra aggressive in their pursuit of happiness and sexual satisfaction.
I asked them if I could travel to their underwater kingdom, but sadly, I needed to have the ability to breathe underwater or some kinds of potions to help me first. They said that their kiss could help me breathe underwater for a period of time, but, I still did not have any purpose to visit the kingdom at the moment, so I politely declined their goodwill.
"Madam Luna, a scallywag tried t' trespass into our Misty Puppeteer 'n claimed t' know ye." After I came back from the conference, I could feel my coins depleting and resource fading. There were many interesting things I wished to buy, but their price also reflected their precious worth. In the end, I could only get some of the low-quality good to experiment with.
"Hm... Well, let him in then." After I replied to the mate, I went into my room to prepare myself. It had been so long since someone came to visit me. The life of the pirates was too addicting. I almost forgot that I had two more identities.
Before long, a man was forced onto his knees before me. A handsome fellow who dressed nothing like a pirate. His face fluttered and somewhat nervous, tried to look at my appearance and thought about something. He seemed to want to talk about something, but with the presence of the mates behind him, he dared not.
Looking at his suspicious expression, I almost giggled as I ordered the mates to go out for a bit. Only then did the man slowly stood up, fearing that he had mistaken my identity.
"... Miss Luna, are you really Miss Luna?" The man, trembling and soaking in sweat, tried to ascertain my identity. Well, the detail of my appearance should be outdated by now. After months of sailing the high sea, my pale skin colour had turned tanned somewhat. Even my plain clothing also changed into various silvery accessories. Compared to my previous self, this appearance was a lot more revealing and mystical, and also a lot more pirate-y, not like the previous vibe.
"As far as I know, there is only one Luna in the Spire Reef." Playing with my new staff, I answered in a relaxed manner, making the man eased himself somewhat.
"Luna, the E-ranked adventurer, the Merchant Guild's member— You're that Luna? The pale, elegant, lady who danced with ice sorcery? The lady who took the quest to go to the Spire Reef months ago?"
"That's right. That's me. It's been a while since someone called me an adventurer. So, you're the secret agent of that Guild Master?" hearing my words, the man finally exhaled a sigh of relief before pulling out a weird-looking device.
"Well, here you go. Anything else?" Handing my part of the device to him, I watched as the two-part connected and become a whole. The special communication device was born at this moment. However, even after completing his objective, the man seemed to want to speak something.
"— Miss Luna, I thought that you are an elegant person who values righteous above all else... Then, if I am to ask you about the rumour surrounding your title, the Blizzard Witch. Is it all true?"
"Of course some of them are exaggerated, but they are somewhat within the truth."
"— How is it possible, Miss Luna? I thought that you would never join those filthy pirates and robbed the merchants, not to mention killing an entire crew of people, falling ships and experimenting with the dead!" It seemed that the sentence took the man most of his courage, as he shrank back and closed his eyes in fear of seeing my anger.
"... Agent, it seems that our priority is simply not aligned. Don't be too naive, young man. The world is a cruel place, and in order to achieve my goal, I must harden my mind and be ruthless. What give you the right to lecture me? I could really make you walk the plank if I truly desire. However, as a regard to your service to the Adventure Guild, as well as a goodwill to the Guild Master, I'll let this slide. I still don't want my friends to come after me." Knocking my staff against the floor, a cold wind pushed the agent out of the room. After that, I could hear his inaudible shout as the mates dragged him out.
"Adventure Guild... Guess it's time to go back." Thinking back, I started to get somewhat emotional. Miss Nene, Miss Vicious, Miss Felicia, that little slime girl, her name was Okarin if I remembered correctly. Many faces floated into her mind, making her mouth widened a little, a hint of joy appeared on her face. If she didn't have the ambitious goal beyond all of this, she would also wish to have this peaceful circle of friends for the rest of her life.
After settling everything, I packed all the needed stuff up and placed my magic scroll in the hand of the captain Borik. I left one of my ice symbol in the room and told the mates about my temporary leave. If possible, I would come back again. However, for now, I had already gained enough, and it's time to report back.
Looking at the sky, I remained in a daze, thinking about the peaceful time in this world. Compared to the constant death-inducing stress in the previous world, I felt at ease.
Determine what benefits the Guild can obtain from assisting Fuyu Machi.
Description:
A recent quest report revealed a beastman mountain far to the southeast. They expressed interest in hiring adventurers, but some councilmen were concerned that the situation seemed suspicious. Please clarify the situation and assess.
"I hope that I'll be compensated.", Adsall mumbled. He was travelling by foot according to the directions Vicious took. He had packed light like Viscious did, but he was still tired. Focusing on Viciou's quest report, Adsall stopped for a moment to ponder where he was. "Wait it says here she made it by running. Oh frick I better start travelling faster."
It was the afternoon and the sun had set halfway, unlike Adsall who was way behind. "I'm not gonna make it. It's too far. I should've rented a horse. I should've packed supplies. Fu-". Adsall's inner monologue was interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming. Going into investigate, Adsall silently moved through the thick green foliage.
He saw a caravan with some giant slimes? , some burnt corpses, some loose cargo, but most importantly a cat-eared woman half naked and in tears, with a bandit in front of her. It was obvious what was happening. Adsall, in an uncharacteristic action, charged in like a bull seeing red and with his hammer, he bashed the bandit's head with a LOUD THUD knocking him out.
“Oi Kenny! I know that bitch is dangerous, but we still need her alive! So don’t be hitting her so h-“, said a bandit as he emerged from inside the caravan.
“You killed Kenny! YOU BASTARD!”, screamed the bandit as he rushed forwards towards Adsall brandishing his iron sword.
The bandit swung like a madman, giving Adsall no openings.
“Left, Right, Backstep. I really can’t keep up with him.”
Adsall’s eyes darted everywhere looking for something to use, until he spotted a rope.
With a dodge roll, Adsall moved towards the rope, grabbing it.
“FACE ME COWARD.”, the bandit yelled as he prepared to charge towards Adsall.
“WRAAHH YOU’RE DEAD MEA- THUMP”
As the bandit was charging, Adsall used the rope like a whip, entangling the bandit’s feet.
Adsall quickly approached the bandit and stabbed him in the right eye.
“I think that’s all of them. Are you o-“, Adsall said aloud while swiping his forehead. "BEHIND YOU." , the woman screamed.
Quickly turning around, Adsall came face to face with an armed giant muscular man. "FRESH MEAT!", he screamed as he brought down his giant spiked base ball bat. Adsall, who dodged the baseball bat, was stunned by the crater that attack left, before quickly snapping back to his senses.
"MOVE!", The woman shouted. Adsall confused by this turned around and saw a giant fireball. He quickly jumped out of the way, unlike the bandit who’s corpse was now smoking.
"Ow.", Adsall moaned. His right foot had gotten lightly singed by the fireball, his foot was now completely red and was heavily blistered. The woman quickly rushed into the caravan and emerged with a bandage and some healing herb.
As the woman approached him, Adsall finally took notice of her face. She had glossy silver hair which was a bit disheveled, and clear orange eyes. She was a beauty. So much so that Adsall blushed at the sight of her.
"Thanks for helping me." She said as she bandaged Adsall's foot.
"It's not that much of a big deal. How about you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I got bruised a bit by the bandits.”
“What about your friends?”
“I’m travelling alone. See those corpses? The fools thought they could ambush me. You should’ve seen the looks on their faces when they realised they were fighting an Archmage.” , She pridefully boasted.
“What brings you here anyway? Mr…”
“Adsall, and I’m looking for a town called Fuyu Machi. I’m going there as a representative of the Adventurer’s Guild of Scribel.”
“I’m Synthia, and today’s your lucky day! I’m on my way to see the Miko myself. The least I can do is escort you there. You probably won’t be able to find it anyway due to the barrier, and if you do I highly doubt that you’d be able to set up a meeting with the Miko.”
“Here let me help you up.”, Synthia said as she pulled Adsall up, putting Adsall’s arm on her shoulder and slowly helped him up the caravan.
“It’s going to be a long ride, so let’s get to know each other. Why did want to become an adventurer Adsall?”
“Well… as a child, my parents used to tell me a lot of stories…”
With giant slimes pulling the carraige, they both set off.
++++++++
The two had been chatting from sunset to night, sharing laughs, regaling each other with tales of their adventures, talking about their future ambitions, etc.
“So that’s how I became an Archmage. It took a long time, but-. We’re here!”
Passing through the barrier, Adsall came face to face with the town of Fuyu Machi. It was a small quaint town.
They drove past an apothecary shop, a church, until they reached a tavern.
“You should rest here for the night. It’s the best inn in town, and I personally know the owner.”, She boasted.
“Also take this!”
She put her hands in her pockets and took out a copper ring with a tiny red round gem embedded in it.
“This is proof that I , Synthia Vermüntat, vouch for your existence in Fuyu Machi.”
“Don’t you dare give this ring away or lose it. Okay? Promise me, no wait. Pinky Promise Me!”, she said in a demanding tone, while offering her pinky.
“A pinky promise. What am I 8? Well I guess I should go along with it.”
“I promise.”
“Okay! I’ll come and take you to the Miko tomorrow, let’s meet here at uh… 10 am?”
“Oh yeah, and after that I’m happy to take you around town.”
“That sounds great. See you then.”, Adsall responded happily.
+++++++++++++
Adsall opened the door, causing a ringing sound.
“Fueh?”, exclaimed the little cat-eared girl who was sleeping on the desk.
Reclaiming her composure she sputtered “A- Oh Welcome to the Weary Bear. I’m Lilitina, how may I help you today?”
“I’d like to rent a room for the night.”
“Okay, that’ll be 25G. This includes breakfast dinner and lunch of course.”
“25G? That’s pretty expensive!”
“Well if you want a discount, we can take the meals out and you can just sleep in the stable for 10G. We can also just kick you out and make you sleep on the pavement like a hobo for free. ”, she retorted with a stiff smile.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll pay.”, Adsall said while handing over the coins.
“I thought Synthia said this place was cheap.”, he mumbled to himself.
The girl’s ears twitched.
“Synthia? You know Synthia?”, She exclaimed. “You better not just be throwing names around.”
“I do. She gave me this ring as proof of her vouching for me?”
Glancing at the ring, Lilitina’s eyes widened.
“Guess you’re not lying. *sigh* I guess I can lower the price to 10G since it’s only for one night.
She handed back 15G.
“Thanks. But why is the price so high?”
“It’s because of the recent amount of animal disappearances. We also don’t have much spices either due to the low number of merchants. We used to have a lot of them, but bandits have started appearing, attacking and enslaving them.”
“I see. *Yawn*, do you mind giving me my key? It’s not that I don’t enjoy talking with you, but its pretty late and I’m very tired.”, Adsall remarked.
“Oh yes, sorry about that,” The girl said before quickly fumbling to get the key.
“Oh, and also if you need anything just ask for Melia, Have a good night! ”
“Thanks.”
Adsall didn’t have a good night.
Upon entering the room and flopping on the bed, Adsall came into the sudden realisation.
“Today… I killed not one but two men. I killed a human.”
His thoughts were flooded with various thoughts.
“They deserved it.”
“They were fellow humans.”
“If I was smarter I could’ve just knocked the first bandit out silently and just taken the girl.”
“But this is part of being an adventurer. Blood. Guts. Violence.”
“I’m a monster aren’t I?”
He didn’t get a chance to finish his debate due to his skill |EZ SLEEP|. Which was for the best.
+++++++++++++
“COCKADOODLE DOOOOOO.”
After he was rudely awakened, Adsall decided to explore the town.
He did his morning routine, and proceeded downstairs for breakfast.
The tavern was pretty packed with loud beastman drinking and shouting.
“Seriously? It’s the morning.”, Adsall muttered to himself.
Grabbing a seat, Adsall signalled a waitress.
“Ah, It’s Mr! Are you enjoying your stay?”
It was the girl, Melia, who he saw on the receptionists desk last night. She was in a waitress uniform and diligently working.
“Yes I am. What do you serve for breakfast?”
“We have a lovely meat and vegetable stew, paired with some freshly made garlic bread!”, she responded.
“I’ll have one serving please.”
“Coming right up!”
*Sip*
The soup was quite tasty. The sweetness from the vegetables was paired perfectly with the right amount of salt and pepper.
*Crunch*
The bread was a shade of golden brown around the bread, with both faces being a wonderful yellow.
It was also crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. Much better than the bread in Scribel.
“How’s your meal?”
“It’s really good! I can’t get enough of this taste!”, Adsall said with his mouth full.
“Of course! After all the Weary Bear is the best inn in Fuyu Machi!”, She boasted while puffing her chest out.
After finishing his meal, and bidding his goodbye, Adsall decided to go and have a look around town.
He came across a variety of shops: Apothecaries, Restaurants, Jewellery stores. At one point he accidentally stumbled into the red light district.
He did notice that his presence wasn’t wanted though. Some beast men sneered at him as he walked by, Some glanced away at the sight of him, a bigger beast man even came up and bumped into him purposely.
“I guess they’re not very welcoming to humans.”
Turning the corner, Adsall went past a particular shop. He stopped out of interest.
It was a store called “Little nibble café”.
Entering the store, Adsall decided to look at the sweets.
There were a variety of cakes, tarts, and buns.
But the thing that caught Adsall’s eyes was a gelatinous yellow sweet, with some brown syrup covering it.
“Pudding?”
Taking his first bite, Adsall was hit with a burst of flavour. It was sweet, and melted in his mouth.
Adsall ended up buying 4 more pudding cups, before leaving to meet up with Synthia.
“Hey.”
Looking up to see who it was, Adsall glanced towards the voice.
It was Synthia, dressed in a beige shirt matched with a black undershirt and black skirt. It gave her a mature look. Adsall couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Stop staring… you’re making me blush.” She said, covering her face.
“Huh - Oh Uh yeah. I wasn’t staring! We should go to see the shrine maiden yes? It’s getting late anyway!”, Adsall sputtered out as he began to walk off.
“Hey Adsall that’s the wrong way. Just follow me.”
“Oh.. .haha”
+++++++++++++
“So… she’s up that mountain?”
“Yep.”
“Do we have to climb it?”
“Yep.”
“… ,” Adsall was speechless. Solemnly staring into the sky.
“No, I’m kidding hehe. There’s another way up there. But first we must meet Tai ge.”
“You called!”
Suddenly, a muscular beastman appeared behind them.
“AH, Don’t sneak up on me like that!”, The startled Synthia said.
“Ah is this the human you spoke of? The one from Scribel? Adele?”
“It’s pronounced Adsall. It’s nice to meet you Mr. Tai Ge”, Adsall said extending his hand out.
“Oh no need for formalities! You saved my sister after all! C’mere!”
Tai Ge suddenly pulled Adsall towards him, giving him a very strong hug. So hearty in fact that Adsall’s back started producing cracking sounds.
“Bro. You’re crushing him. Let him go!”
“Oh my bad, I forgot that humans are pretty frail.”
“Are you okay Adsall?”
“I’m fine, Synthia. I don’t think anything broke. Even-though it feels like everything broke.”
(OOC: Italics = Inner thoughts)
“Wait you guys are siblings?”
“I was born after my brother. Of course I am also much younger than him, smarter than him, p- Ow!”
“Enough boasting! Anyways you’re here to see the miko right? Well. Adsall, There is a way for you to go up to Yato Machi without all the trekking but you wo-“
“Let me stop you right there!”, Synthia interrupted
“We’re not using that fucking catapult or cannon or whatever it was.”
“But there isn’t another way to get up!”
“What about the waystone.”
“I guess the waystone also works, but the catapult is fun! Trust me. Hey Adsall you’ll try it right?”, Tai Ge said as he placed his hand on Adsall’s shoulder and gave him a thumbs up.
“Come on Adsall, lets go to the waystone.”, Synthia as she pulled on Adsall’s sleeve and pulled him away.
“Hey wait up sis.”
After what was a 5 minute walk, They reached a weird looking stone which was attached to the mountain. It looked normal, yet weird. If you glanced past it, you probably wouldn’t have noticed anything, but if you looked at it for a long time… It’d look unnatural, like it was out of place.
“What is that?”
“A waystone. It’s a device that I personally made that would allow instantaneous transportation up the mountain, however for it to work you need to be a beast kin. It’ll work if you’re with another beast kin though.”, She lectured.
“Now just put a hand on it and brace yourself. I’ll put mine on last as I have to trigger it.”
After Synthia put her hand on the waystone, The waystone began to glow. With a flash, they were all in the Yato Machi.
“Welcome Adventurer Adsall, to Yato Machi. I am Sora, Miko of Yato Machi.”, yelled a little girl dressed in religious garbs.
“I hope your visit here has been fruitful. I hope you’ve enjoyed our hospitality.”, She enthusiastically asked.
“Yes I have, I believe that our Guild could benefit from a branch here.”. Adsall responded.
“However; I don’t know if we can. From what I could gather, the locals have a grudge against humans, and with a lot of the adventurers being humans. Eventually tensions could get high and we’d have a civil war.”
“No way! No way! while I do believe that there is some tension, I doubt that my followers would outright attack humans, unless provoked.”, She quickly rebuked.
“The shogun is willing to not tax the guild for 6 months, if you guys make a branch here.”
"What do you mean by not tax?"
"By lowering the tavern prices from 25G to 10G for 6 months. (4 Weeks)"
"Thats the same price as Scribel? Not very alluring."
"She's also willing to give you access to our manastones mine, which contain a lot of powerful and clear manastones."
"She'll even send helpers to help construct the guilds building."
“That does sound enticing, but also alarming. Why does the shogun need adventurers? War?”
“No, nothing that extreme. It’s just that monsters have been appearing more often, more goblins, more slimes. Ogres have also started appearing, which is very alarming. The shogun suspects a monster raid may occur soon, so she wants to strengthen our towns defences.”
“I see. Where is the shogun?”
“Oh, mom’s out training the guards, instead of this fool of a brother.”, Synthia casually answered.
“Wait the shogun's your mum?”
“Yeah. It’s not something to really brag about though.”
Many responses floated in Adsall’s head, but he decided to remain speechless, letting out a low sigh.
“I’ll bring the deal back to the guild. It’s the Guild Master’s decision after all.”
“Great! I’ll fly you there myself!”, Sora said enthusiastically.
“No need Sora, I need to make my way into town to trade anyway, after all most of the cargo was destroyed in the bandit attack.”, Synthia interrupted. “I’ll bring him back myself.”
After they descended from the mountain, Synthia and Adsall bade farewell to her brother and proceeded to travel back to the town of Scribel.
"... It seems that the mountain is hiding something from us, or at least from Miss Vicious, as her report and yours came into conflict in some parts. This is something worthy of taking notes."
The Adventurer's Guild maintains an outpost near Asteria Village in the west.
The outpost serves as a relay station for any regional activity in the rural area.
Please keep horses fresh at all times in case of emergency.
Use your best judgement to aid locals and travelers. Rewards:
Day 1: After having spent 2 days getting their whilst foraging along the way I finally arrived at the small village of Asteria an outpost city. The only reason really for this city to exist seems to be because of the peddlers following the well worn road to and from the city selling and collecting wares and goods. The city is the fastest route for a peddler to take between Scribel and the cities further to the West of it. A lazy air seems to have settled over the village, one of those airs that seems to come naturally to places like Asteria. People walk through the city slowly moving steadily to do what is required from them a relaxing scene unlike that of the city which is a bustling and agitating sight.
Assertion: Village has no major disturbances going on and seems to be running efficiently. The guard post is still manned by my counterpart.
Conclusion: Village currently experiencing period of ease likely after a large celebration yesterday. Place is relaxing enough that I should be able to concentrate on my side purpose.
Assertion: There is a small congregation at a more robustly constructed building.
Conclusion: Maybe it won't be so good for my side purpose as that appears to be a temple.
"Bother." I slowly walk up to the guard. Scanning him to make sure he's okay.
Assertion: The guard is not breathing...
Conclusion: Master at some hidden skill or he's dead... Annoyance.
I slowly get closer and as I come close the man begins to stir. Luckily he isn't dead! A large relief that would have put a major hole in plans. A far greater hole than that of the temple. "I'm your replacement I believe my name is AIEO." The man begins to get from his chair.
"Well fancy that a lady like you is my replacement huh wouldn't have thought someone like you would take such a quest." The man sneers a little as he says that oh well many are prejudiced against women and someone who looks as I do will always draw ire from others. "Anyway all you have to do is stay here and watch for threats if any of the villagers need ya they will come up here. It's actually really relaxing quest."
"I thought as much that's why I choose it I need some time to fix some internal issues after all." I stand still and get a good look at this man he seems to be giving off the same air as the village he will likely be returning here soon enough the bustle of the city likely to much for him now. "Anyway anything in particular I should look out for or no special monsters around here?"
"Nah nothing special near here." The man shrugs grabs a bag off the floor and his aura suddenly seems to change to that of a man bustling to be gone. "I FINALLY GET TO GO BACK TO THE CITY AND EXCITEMENT!" The man bolts past me and begins running off to the city.
"Maybe my assumptions where wrong, he's probably one of those cultivators or something." Anyway time for me to settle in and make myself at home. I've done everything I need to.
Day 2: Nothing much happened after my arrival yesterday and I shall avoid going to the more solid building one of the villagers asked me to help with a little wild animal problem but that sorted itself out before my arrival. So I have had plenty of time for prayer and self reflection, the daemon however has felt that this is an appropriate time to be a pest and continuously whispers doom in my ears once every hour. An extremely minor annoyance though but an annoyance none the less. I hear a villager running towards me yelling for something. I quickly get up, "What do you require villager?" The man slows and comes to a stop before starting panting. The man is not dressed like the other villagers he is dressed in a brown habit. Maybe he isn't a villager.
"Ahh I'm the local priest, I was wondering if you'd like to come to the prayer session tonight it's an important feast day after all." I go tense all over my body.
I quickly look for the words I want to express my hatred of Gods properly without insulting him to much. In the end bluntness is probably my best bet. "No I don't think I will. My experiences with Gods has been relatively bad overall I'd say." I shrug and begin heading back to the inside of the cottage.
"Oh okay." The priest responds in a seemingly depressed way. His problem not mine. I go back to my post and return to my knees. "You aren't like the others that come here most of them like learning about this small countries habits and look for a distraction." The priest begins to head away from me back to his church at a far more sedately pace he probably tired himself out running here.
Day 8: Nothing much happened in the intervening days I unshackled a part of my mind for a period of time I've forgotten what that did though after re-shackling it and the Daemon continued being a pest. I helped out a few of the villagers with village stuff. I just heard a horn in the distance better check that out quickly. Getting out of the building I run into the town where the horn noise definitely came from whilst scanning my surroundings. I notice a small bear off in the distance though it doesn't seem to be the problem I should check up on it after this just in case.
Having arrived at the disturbance sight I can see why they called me a peddler and one of the townsmen seem to have gotten into a spat of fighting bothersome town. The peddler has something holstered in his pocket that looks similar to a bolt pistol, slug thrower or an exitus pistol though it's far to small to be any of those. "Hands up the both of you." I yell whilst pointing the crossbow at the peddler whilst the man on the floor begins to wriggle away. "Stop wriggling and put your hands in the air or I will put the bolt through your leg." I look sternly at the wriggling man on the floor whom has now stilled and is slowly raising his hands. The peddler with his hands already in the air. "Now what exactly is this about and why did it start. You will tell me the truth or we shall have a longer talk later."
Assertion: The man is far more injured than the peddler.
Conclusion: The peddler is stronger than the man in a fight bigger threat.
Assertion: The peddler has a guard hanging back behind him.
Conclusion: The peddler or his guard where attacked by the man more than likely.
The scene has gone silent after my arrival and I'm sure an intervening busy body will come down here soon. Time to move this along. "So which of you is going to start I say seeing as how neither of the two has spoken." The peddler begins to move towards me. "Did I say you could move?" The peddler stops.
"Well you didn't say I couldn't." False statement but I will let him think he has me there.
"Are you going to tell me what is going on or do I have to listen to him instead?" I say as if he has annoyed me with trying to be a smart aleck and jumping through a loophole as all merchants seem to.
"Ahh on my last trip through here I sold this man here an item and he seems to not have liked the quality of it. So he decided to try and rough me up for whatever reason." The merchant shrugs and stops talking.
"What is your version" I turn my gaze to the man on the floor. He seems to be trying to make himself look pitiful down there that will not work.
"He stole me money I bought a dagger which he guaranteed me would last for 6 years. Not the pitiful 6 days it lasted! So when he wouldn't compensate me I went to attack him but than my blow didn't connect somehow and I ended up getting beaten up." The man is still trying to make himself look pitiful he's absolutely pathetic.
"You" I point to one of the villagers. "Deal with him whatever the punishment is here for an unprovoked attack."
"Mister peddler is what he says true?" Having to spin back around to the slowly backing away peddler I'd assume it is.
"Of course not it's a preposterous story!" The merchant sounds worried as if he'll bolt if I push it.
"Is it now?" I say looking very cruel and malicious. "Than I'm sure you won't mind me asking the crowd if it is true or not right?" I turn back to the villager still on the floor. "So anyone else who'd know about this or is it your word against his?"
The villager stutters a little before saying, "Frank the miller was there to he saw it and he was there when the dagger broke to. Weren't you Frank." I look around to the man whom the villager is looking at when he comes into view I seeing him nodding.
"Aye it was true I saw it."
"Well that's good enough for me, you will pay him his refund. NOW GET FUCKING MOVING." I spin away and begin to walk back to my post. Leaving the crowd to rapidly dissolve luckily that priest didn't show up.
Day 9: The rest of yesterday was uneventful as I'm sure you'd expect the bear was not any threat. Though I do wish I had a cape and a hat though for that it'd be way more intimidating I'm sure. Anyway today it's almost night and time for another unsealing I'm sure if you paid attention to my condition you'd have noticed that the purple on the suit seems to have diminished greatly. Before it was all the way up the leg now it's down to the knee. I can hear someone running here time to stop my musings for now. Going outside I look at the priest whom has arrived. "Ahh thank you for putting a stop to that fight yesterday in such a fair manner. I hear you cut quite an imposing figure the way you rocked up. Anyway I came to ask about coming to a festival to pray again." Oh it's almost time for the daemon to make it's annoyance.
Right on time like bloody clockwork the Daemons voice whispers in my ear "DOOM!" The priest begins looking around the area.
"What was that?" The priest continues frantically looking around I yawn a little.
"That was just a pestilent daemon hitchhiking in my consciousness nothing to worry about really. Luckily it seems to be far less powerful because it's God hasn't followed it through to this world so far." I yawn a little more. "Anyway I'm going back to what I was doing you continue on with your celebration. For all intents and purposes I'm only here when trouble erupts." I do another little yawn and sit down the priest seems to have quickly run away. Time for me to get back to my own problems.
The rest of the period ran smoothly enough I made sure a rabid wolf didn't enter into the village by putting a bolt through it's head on the 13 day and a few other minor troubles with the peddlers and between the villagers popped up but nothing important I was relieved by another adventurer and I than made the uneventful journey back to Scribel not much to say really other than I got the purple colouration down to running from my foot to the top of my ankle.
Assist with the repair of defensive fortifications.
Repair any broken flood walls.
Perform a satisfactory job.
When the hydra's minions attack from below, they try to flood the tunnels.Water from the lake spills in, drowning many dwarves.Help us repair the flood walls and fortifications. We are stretched thin.If too many leaks are breached, the city will be lost. Rewards:
'And here I thought fighting monsters was the most tiring work out there. Evidently I was wrong, what with the fact that I forgot everything that happened between the end of my shift the previous day, and when I woke up in the inn this morning. I don't even remember getting back to the city, in fact.
As for the request itself, well...it involved lots of running. Copious amounts of running. Some jumping. Anawfullotofcussingandswearingandfreefalling---
Ahem. Let's not elaborate too much on what happened. Basically, we started off in the tunnels during the day, me and a couple dwarves on a couple minecarts. The plan was to use the rail system to get to the flood walls, mend them quickly, and then double back to the city.
Notice how I said the plan was to do that? Because obviously it went off on a tangent---nay, it didn't so much go off track as it did go topsy-turvy and all over the place, and I'm not even going to talk about the fakking kobolds ambushing us every now and then. At one point the whole plan took a literal dive along with the tracks; some fak in the group blew up a portion of the rails with a firebomb and made a huge hole in the system.
The old dwarf engineer told the idiot (after we somehow all got out of the carts in time before they fell into the hole) that it was damned fortunate the collapse didn't touch any of the faultlines, or the whole section of the mine might have collapsed on itself along with us. As it was, the minecarts with the supplies for repairing the walls went straight into the hole and fell one floor below, and since the carts broke we ended up carrying the supplies by hand. Thanks a lot, buddy.
Then came the actual repairing of the flood walls, which to it's credit wasn't that difficult. Just stack layers of bricks and brush them up with mortar, then jam them into the crumbling sections and fill in the holes with even more mortar. Afterwards, it was just a matter of waiting for the mortar to dry, and bam! Wall fixed. Simple job, right?
No.
Besides the occasional ablublublu and kobolds, which we had to drop our work and fend off---tell me, have you ever watched mortar dry? It's about as exciting as it sounds, and I'm not even talking about the time taken for mortar to set, which is the entirety of one week. No, just drying alone takes a whole day.
Not to mention, the replacement crew got here late because of the blown up tracks, so we waited down in the tunnels for two hours longer than we should have. After they finally reached and took over from us, we then walked back up to head to the gates and fix up the newly-destroyed catapults and ballistae from the just-recently finished attack. Again, it wasn't too difficult to repair existing fortifications---so long as they were useable---but building and installing new ones were another matter entirely. I don't want to think about how many times a stray beam nearly smacked me off the walls.
In the end, between the old dwarf's experience and me running everywhere to secure items, we somehow managed to stay on schedule for the number of things to be fixed. And to give it the credit it's due, it was quite the enriching experience.
Therefore, now that I've gotten the experience, I shall gladly never take this request ever again.'
