[SD:FS] Pay To Guard - Chapter 2

Gem yawned, “So, we’ve been in this town for a little bit. I personally gained a level and while Body stayed the same, lost in Stamina because we weren’t running around. Mana is still awesome, though!”

June, “Because you take every chance to manipulate the air. I shouldn’t have told you how to do that. A chilly breeze on the back of the neck or the ear is shocking and a distraction.”

Gem shrugs, “Eh, what good is having magic if I can’t play with it! Though I’m a little annoyed that I only got a level in Sense Mana.”

Gem pulls up their status and flips it around for June to see.

{

Name: Gem Paroxysm

Species: ChaosKin (Chaos)

Level: 4

Stats

• Body: B-

• Mana: S+

• Stamina: C-

Resistances

• Air: S

Skills

• Sense Mana lv2

• Lesser Mana Control lv2

• Wind Blade lv3

• Assay lv2

Equipment

• GP: 127

• Backpack 1D

• Armored jacket 1D

• Armored cargo shorts 1D

• Ring of the Frog [3/3] 1D+

• Scroll of Recall (City of a Thousand Fountains) [30 days] ★S+

• Lazy Turtle Buckler [2/2 a day] 5D+

• Scroll of Rest 5E

}

June taps her fork on the inn’s table. “Did you expect to gain much from a peaceful few days of fetch quests and deliveries? Besides, you’re skipping the one thing we did improve. Despite paying for a place to sleep and food, you managed to gather 127 gold.”

Gem pouts, “Well, it would have been 126gp and 1ap if I could have managed to attune a coin.”

June finishes her juice before responding, “If it was that easy, gold would be worth even less. Now, we have some spare change and I figure we should head over to the place with all the sheep. Wool something or other.”

Gem stacks their empty cup on June’s and pushes their plate away. “Wollshire, emphasis on the ‘ll’. Do you think we’ll get into more fights if we go on our own or sign up as guards? I’ve got Mana to burn and wind blades to toss.”

June pushes her own plate away and gestures to the innkeeper that they’re done. “You can cast, what, 10 of them? Not exactly going to last you through a proper fight.”

They both stand up and Gem scoffs, “You just need to know when to use them! Though I am a bit mad that neither control nor the spell skill itself seem to improve the number of casts I get.”

June rolls her eyes as Gem gets the door for her. “That will come later. For now, those two skills need to make up for the fact you’re a new practitioner of the magical arts.”

Gem follows June out of the inn, “Whatever, you didn’t answer my question about how we should go about traveling to Wollshire.”

June gestures in the direction of the guild, “We should join up with a group already heading there. I’m sure we can handle any one fight, barring disaster. However, it won’t just be ‘one’ fight. There will likely be one fight after another. A proper trade caravan will let your limited ammo stretch the farthest.”

From there, the pair make their way to the guild and begin to look over the requests.

Gem frowns after reading another one of the tasks closely. “Accompany caravan to Wollshire, pay ten gold? The requests to go places all sound more like advertisements for caravans to join. Why does the guild even let people post them?”

A leopardkin man who was also looking for a task to do laughs at that, “Well now, I’m not going to say you’re wrong, but these are the discounted rates with the caveat you have to join the fighting instead of just riding along.”

Gem puts their hands on their hips, “Well, that doesn’t mean they should be on the same board!”

The man shrugs, “You’re still going to take it, aren’t you? Well, I guess as long as you decide in the next little bit. They’re leaving soon.”

June sighs, “Good to know. I guess for such a relatively safe road this is to be expected.”

The leopardkin smirks, “You could always head back to the ol’ fountain garden. The system subsidizes trips to and from them for new travellers like you two. Just head in and then back out to whatever other nearby place you want to go.”

Gem, “We’ll skip that. Twenty gold isn’t that much.”

June nods, “We aren’t in a rush, but we aren’t wasting time either. Thank you for the information, though.”

The man nods, “Fair enough, now, are you planning to take that last task? You seem to have been going back to it quite a bit. Might want to get in line so you can get there in time.”

Gem fixes him with a squinted glare, “I don’t know, why should we take your task over the others?”

Both the man and June’s eyes go wide in shock. The man frowns, “What are you talking about?”

June nods, “We don’t even know who he is.”

Gem, “Well, mostly going by tropes and a feeling, but the person who commissioned this quest is named ‘Merchant Silverwhiskers’. And while going off a name like that isn’t exactly kosher, Mr. leopardkin here was a little too interested in if we would take that specific task.”

June frowns, “Okay, I can see that.” And she turns to him, “Well?”

The man shrugs, “Well, you aren’t right, but you aren’t wrong. I didn’t commission the task. That was my father. Though I am the one in charge of the trip and my name is Silverwhiskers and I am officially recognized as a merchant.”

June, “And were you planning to act surprised when we showed up later or something?”

Merchant Silverwhiskers holds up his hands, “Now, I wasn’t going to even let you line up before telling you. I just like to get an idea of who plans to be coming along with us. It’s a lot easier to do that when people don’t know who I am.”

At this point, the regulars in the crowd can’t help but burst into laughter. A human slaps Silverwhiskers on the shoulder, “Hah, someone finally got you! I can remember you pulled that one on me.

“Hey kids, he isn’t lying. Though none of us particularly like his tactics, him and his father are honest and stick to a deal. Worth their word even! Not that we have a lot of crooked merchants around these parts, mind you, so you’d be fine going with any of the options.”

An elven lady nods, “I watched this rascal grow up and you’ll be fine if you take his task, which it is! Don’t let his talk of his father commissioning the task fool you. No matter how much that is true, this brat is the one you’re dealing with.”

Another human shrugs, “Besides, whichever you take, as long as you’re heading out today? Yeah, you’ll be traveling with him. They prefer to set out together.”

A wolffolk man barks out a laugh, “Silverwhiskers, oh man, they got you!” And he nods to the group, “They all cost the same. At least this fool won’t overbook the ‘guards’ to earn some extra cash. You might even get a proper fight in!”

Merchant Silverwhiskers takes this moment to speak up, “And I’m at the front for this trip. So if a fight is what you’re looking for, I’m the one to sign up with either way.”

The wolffolk slaps his knee, “You managed to get the front? Is the organizer this time someone who loves or hates you?”

Merchant Silverwhiskers scoffs, “For a trip between here and there? Neither. This isn’t some long haul city to city caravan. Being at the front isn’t appreciably more or less dangerous, well, besides being the most likely to face beast attacks. The back is the real hot seat.”

All the while, the crowd continues to laugh and poke fun at him. Though of course, things do eventually settle down, if only because one of the guild receptionists forces the issue.

Gem glances at June and shrugs. “I’m up for it if you are.”

June nods and turns to the merchant, “Given everyone’s reactions, we’re fine with signing up for the trip.”

Silverwhiskers glances at the magic clock on the wall and nods. “Well, get in line over there and register. The caravan will be leaving in an hour. We expect to get to Wollshire near or just after sunset, so be ready for a long day of walking.”

June smirks and elbows Gem, “Looks like you get to work on your stamina.”

Gem rolls their eyes, “Just walking? As I’ve said before, I can do that all day without breaking a sweat.”

And the two lineup and despite having an hour, they are almost late to take the task. After nearly half an hour, they get to the front of the line and tell the receptionist which task they want.

The receptionist laughs, “Cutting it a little close, there! The cut off is half an hour before. Anyway, meet the caravan out the west gate.”

June, “Which is the west gate?”

Without any apparent thought behind it, he points behind the two and to the right a little. “You came in through the South gate, so you’ll want that general direction. When you exit the building, you can follow the center road to the right till it meets the halfway road. A left there and straight will get you where you want to go. The caravan forms up outside of the town.”

Gem smiles a normal smile, though June can tell they are restraining themselves from smiling wider. “Thank you for the help! Do we need to do anything special? I didn’t exactly get a quest pop-up or anything.”

The receptionist shakes his head, “You only get the quest once Merchant Silverwhiskers accepts you after getting it assigned to you by us and you pay the money to join in. And before you ask, it does not reward anything to you when completed.”

Gem, “Bit of a run-on sentence there. Anyway, we should probably get going. Don’t want to keep them waiting!” Gem’s smile extends a bit further across their face.

June’s face has turned a little red from all the attention and the awkward conversation. So, she grabs onto Gem’s shoulder and pulls them out of the guild. “Yep, yep, better not keep them waiting.”

Not that they were in any danger of that as they arrived at the caravan more than early enough. Around the large merchant wagons stand a large group of adventurers, many of which turn to glare at them. Though only a handful of them actually walk towards them.

Led by an elf, the group of adventurers fan out to half surround Gem and June. The elf, quite tall even by their standards, looks down their nose at the two. And this isn’t just because of their height. Anyone with eyes can clearly see this is being done as a sign of disrespect.

The elf’s upper lip pulls up on one side and eyes scrunch, “Leave. These fine merchants clearly do not need you. To still be wearing the gear given out to new travellers? Eugh, I can barely stand to be in your presence.”

To his left a hyenakin wearing gilded scale mail nods, “The honorable Se’llium PolTan Blood’sTree the fifth of his name, son of Se’llium PolTan Blood’sTree the fourth who is a trusted aid of Baron Blood’sTree has declared that you shall leave. Make not this harder than it must. With my master’s presence, yours would just be a stain on this caravan’s image.”

This attitude clearly doesn’t go over well with anyone else. However, just as equally, it seems no one is planning on stepping forward. At least at first. They take a moment to push through the crowd, but a pair of guys get through.

Though if it was just them, things might not have gotten better. What really solved things was that they were bringing over Merchant Silverwhiskers. “And what’s going on here?

“I know it isn’t someone unrelated trying to interfere with a quest my group put up at the adventurers guild. After all, that kind of interference has actual consequences.”

Se’llium barely inclines his head. A nod of recognition in only the most literal sense. “So these... travellers are here for your group. I should have known. We will talk later.” And the elf walks away without waiting for a response.

Merchant Silverwhiskers shrugs, “Eh, let’s ignore that guy and get the paperwork finished. It shouldn’t take long and given that display, I doubt we’ll have many more joined us until it is time to leave.”

New Player Forums - Chapter 1

Blade Gang - Chapter 3