B2 Chapter 163: Deadacre pt. 8

Kaius let out a sigh of satisfaction, patting his stomach as he walked down the street with Porkchop at his side. He’d decided that Hensch must be a mage, because it was only by actual magic that the food could be that good.

Literally, in the case of how invigorating the morning meal had been. It had been a grand affair, of eggs, toast, seared ham, and a dozen charred vegetables he had no name for. Delicious, all in all, and would have been well worth the cost of admission even without the sudden energy that had welled within him afterwards.

He’d asked the man about it, but all he had gotten in return was a sly grin as Hensch had tapped the side of his nose. Trade secrets or some such. High level skills, no doubt. He hoped that one day Explorer’s Toolkit would let him do something similar, but he doubted he would ever be able to do anything as impactful until he was far higher level than the man.

Renting a room at the Dusty Stables had been a good decision. Hells, Hensch had even sent someone to fetch him a pair of gloves when he’d asked, not so much as blinking at the odd request. Afterall, without his vambraces his glyphs would be on full display, something that best remained hidden for now.

They were heading to the Guild. Their first stop of the day. Originally, they were going to head straight to the inscriptionist he had spotted the previous evening, but then Porkchop had pointed out that it was probably wise to get advice from Ro, or perhaps Vangus, on which places were best.

That, and the Guild was closer. They’d end up there anyway, so it made sense to check the mission board first thing. 

They still got stares as they walked through the streets, though this time they were fewer in number and more curious than wary. For one, he had left behind his armour, in favour of going about his day in his trusty set of travelling clothes. The other major factor was that they were in the Delver’s quarter, and seeing an armed man going about his business with a titanic warbeast at his side was far less of an occasion for the folks who lived and worked here.

Rounding a corner, the Guild came into view. It was still just as majestic as the first time he had seen it, looming high on a t-shaped intersection, declaring its dominance and institutional vigour. A glimmer of giddy butterflies fluttered their way around his stomach as he stared at the emblem of a crossed stave and sword, his hand fiddling with the copper emblem in his pocket.

“What’s got you so joyous?” Porkchop asked, picking up on his mood through their bond.

“Just still feels strange finally making it here. I might have gained and lost much, and my route was far different than I imagined, but I'm here all the same. A delver, after years of dreaming about it.” Kaius murmured wistfully, an easy going smile tugging at his lips.

Porkchop chuffed, drawing a few eyes from passers by. “I sort of understand, I’ve wondered on the nature of the lands of your people for a long time too. The more I stay here, the more strange things come to mind about the way you live. It’s confusing, but exciting and adventurous.”

Kaius clapped his brother on the back. “Well, here’s to fulfilling our dreams, I suppose. Let us hope the trend continues.” he said through their bond as they approached the front door of the building.

It swung open with ease, revealing a common room far less rambunctious than it had been the previous day. Delver’s clustered around the mission board, while a decently long line snaked away from the counter, each petitioner holding a thin slip of cream coloured card in their hands.

Business was the name of the game this early in the morning, it seemed.

“I’m going to go wait over by those seats, we might tug on some tails if I take up a quarter of the room by the board.” Porkchop said, turning towards an out of the way booth that was set up on the edge of the common area.

Kaius slapped his brother on the shoulder. “Good plan.”

Walking towards the board, he made his way through the crowds, patiently waiting for the others who had arrived first to take their picks. Once a space was free he leapt into it, surveying the offerings available.

Hundreds of strips of paper were pinned to the thing, covering it completely across its thirty stride length. 

The mission board had been separated into horizontal segments, each rimmed with a different material, creating a section of space perhaps two long-strides wide, by one and a half tall. Wood, then copper, bronze, iron, and steel.

Kaius frowned as he looked at the distribution of the request. They were…telling of the state of things. The wooden section on the far left had a bare few handfuls of slips scattered across its cork surface, while the copper one he stood in front of had dozens. To his right, at the bronze, the section had so many missions available that not a scrap of its cork surface could be seen.

That was the busiest section by far, a steady stream of people entering the Guild, wandering over to it to gather slips in twos and threes, before registering the mission at the front desk and leaving again. 

It made some sense, afterall Bronzes were the most numerous in the guild. While those who fully devoted themselves to delving quickly rose to Iron, or even Steel, he’d heard there were plenty of those who joined the guild for a touch of occasional excitement, supplementary income, or a myriad of other reasons. Those types were large in number, but usually only worked as a delver once a season or less.

It seemed that the change wrought by the shift in phases had lit a fire under them, rousing people from complacency, judging by the folks he saw wandering in.

Still, the sheer number of missions was worrying. Bronze was for folks who could deal with threats in the sixty to one-hundred level range, and it commonly represented the point where most people without combat classes couldn’t handle something on their own - even significantly over levelled.

There was something worse though, while far fewer than even the Copper jobs, there were Iron ranked missions on the board. Those were supposed to be…rare. At least in the frontier and the Dukedoms. Niggling worry seeped through his stomach, a thrumming tension rising as he realised that as much as it might be nice, they needed to keep pushing. The rising tide of mana waited for no one, and he didn’t want to be left behind.

He could only thank the gods that the Steel board sat empty. For now.

Sighing at the state of things, Kaius leaned closer to the Copper requests. He leafed through the pages, reading the descriptions of missions in and around the region under the purview of this guild branch. A frown slowly grew on his face.

Cavern lurkers picking off miners in a quarry, level forty threat, team of three or more. Eirholm under assault by a pack of unknown beasts, assumed level fifty threat, team of five or more. Boggart swarm harrying passage between Broadfield and Whetendale, level forty-five threat, team of five or more. 

With increasing frustration, he flipped through the missions, only finding something that he and Porkchop would be able to take every ten or so. Each and everyone was categorically unsuitable.

Help needed wrangling escaped beast cattle, level twenty-five threat, team of two plus. Hunting hound turned on owners, level twenty threat, team of two plus. Lake geese preventing access of fishermen, level twenty…

Kaius looked on in disgust. It seemed they would have to hope that Ianmus was still in the city after all. 

To make matters worse, he’d found more than one mission that he thought would suit him and Porkchop perfectly well, if only they could take him. A singular giant spider at the edge of what was suitable for Copper, with suspected illusion abilities when stationary, team of fucking three plus.

Grinding his teeth for a moment, Kaius forced his shoulders to relax as he took a long sigh.

“Thought I’d find you here,” a familiar voice said from behind him. “I can explain why there’s nothing for you, if you’d like.”

Kaius turned to find Ro standing behind him, a knowing smile on her face. The surrounding delvers gave her plenty of space, their deference clear. 

Honestly, he could probably imagine why. For most, delving was extremely dangerous without a balanced team of three to five. An institution like the Guild, especially one that was notorious for drawing in overconfident youngsters, would have to dissuade their members from elaborate suicide.

“I’m guessing it's to stop the vast majority who would be picking up jobs they really shouldn’t” he sighed.

Ro grinned, and nodded. “Yep. Most missions are structured under the assumption that you will have found a team by the time you are out of early Copper. So, you have anyone in mind, or do you want me to introduce you to some folks who might fit?”

“I might. The mage I arrived in town with, he was trying to catch a caravan to the Dukedoms, but with the way of things he might have been delayed.” Kaius explained.

Ro nodded. “Understandable. Honestly, unless he’s fucking loaded, he’s probably still holed up at the association. Everyone and their grandmother wants to be behind the walls of a Greenseed city right now. I’d hurry though, never know what might happen.”

Well, that was something at least. He’d known it would be busy, but he knew that of anyone Ro would be best positioned to know the truth of it. Still, while he had her here, Kaius figured he might as well ask after an appropriate inscriptionist.

“I'll get it done before lunch,” he promised. “While I have you, do you know where I could offload a few spare artefacts, and get a Self Repair job done?”

“Busy man.” Ro said with a smile. “But yes, go to the Artifice and Arms, just a few blocks down the left, and then a block to the right. Jin’s a trustworthy sort, he’ll treat you right.”

Kaius nodded, committing the simple directions to memory. 

“Anyways, I have to get back to work. Just wanted to check in on my latest member. Don’t die, Kaius, we need all hands right now.” Ro said, before she turned heel and walked through the crowd, leaving him to his business.

Well, at least the trip hadn’t been a total failure, and now they could get some more preparations done. 

Kaius pushed his way through the gaggle that still flowed too and from the mission board, informing Porkchop of his findings on his way to the door.

Next stop, enchantments.

…

The door to Artifice and Arms jingled as he pushed it open. At first he thought it was a bell, though a moment later he spotted a small inscription on the door jam. Finely wrought and delicate, it was an impressive display of miniaturisation even if the formation itself was simple.

Porkchop waited for him outside, calmly sitting outside one of the shop's bay windows. Kaius nabbed the saddle bag from his brother, slinging it over his shoulder as he entered the place. If there was anywhere there was little risk of backlash due to it being discovered, it was to a fellow inscriptionist. Any artificer who got a reputation for sharing secrets of their customers' gear would be a pariah in minutes.

The shop itself was a fascinating thing, with shelves covered in an impressive array of artefacts. A counter dominated the far wall, the man behind it smiling at him.

“Welcome to Artifice and Arms! Name’s Jin, what can I do for you?" the owner of the shop welcomed him. He was a short man. Slight and wiry, dressed in clean linens that draped off his thin frame. 

“Nice to meet you, Jin. Name’s Kaius, Ro recommended I visit you for a little work, and to potentially offload a couple of artifacts.” Kaius said cordially, approaching the counter.

“Well, any friend of Ro’s is a friend of mine. Let’s get the commission out of the way first, what do you need done?” Jin asked, looking at his bag in curiosity.

“Mind if I use up a bit of the bench?” he asked.

Jin backed up, and waved at him to go ahead. It was a testament to the man's professionalism that he didn’t even blink as Kaius pulled out Porkchop’s under-armour from their spatial container. Instead the man leaned forwards, inspecting the barding he’d produced.

“Stone charger hide? That’s good stuff. New too.” Jin looked up. “Whoever made this knew their trade well. I assume you want Self Repair?”

Kaius nodded, it wasn’t a hard guess.

“Well, good news is there is plenty of space, bad news is it's just about the only thing it will bear before it's fully saturated. When do you need it?” Jin asked.

“Preferably sooner than a week. I want to get back out in the field.” Kaius said, giving Jin an awkward smile. He knew it was a fast turn around for this sort of work. Self Repair was a far more complicated inscription than most, regardless of its ubiquitous nature of depths-wrought artefacts.

Jin tutted, drumming his fingers on his counter in a rolling beat. “I could do it, but I'll have to add my rush charge, ten percent, which would bring the total to one-fifty depths-gold.  That good by you?” the man looked at him questioningly, searching his face for any sign of shock and horror.

Kaius smiled at the sight of it. Father had told him many stories of people being horrified at the true cost of inscriptions. Enchanting, the kind of formation that was bound into artefacts, required an extreme level of precision over basic formations, and often needed valuable reagents in the use of the binding. 

“Depends if I have equal in trade, and hopefully you can throw in a water producing artefact.” Kaius said as he pulled out his brace of blink-knives and Porkchops old set of barding.

Jin blinked, peering close at both items. He nodded appreciatively at the barding, but clucked his tongue in pleased surprise at the throwing knives. A moment later he looked up and gave Kaius a contemplative look.

“You don’t have a Guild account yet, do you?” he said after a moment.

“Is that a problem?” Kaius responded, his brow furrowing.

Jin shook his head. “Not exactly. Look, I’ll take the barding for seventy. It’s niche, but with Well Fitted it’ll be an easy sell to the right folks. However, those blink knives are going to sell like hotcakes. Returning? On a full brace of knives? It ups the value considerably compared to six individual blades.”

Kaius blinked, he’d known returning was expensive, but he hadn’t realised having them as a single set was such a factor.

Jin nodded knowingly. “Oh yes, it does. Look, with how much those knives will fetch me, I'll be able to do the work on your barding overnight, throw in a self refilling waterskin, and fifty depths-gold in gold and silver for the knives. I recommend banking as much of the one-twenty as you can when you get an account, even if you do have a spatial artefact.”

Kaius nodded. It made sense, especially if he could get access to the money in any well developed city. “Deal.”

“Fantastic!” Jin swiped his hand over the table, revealing neat stacks of yellow and silver coinage, a large leather waterskin with runic stitching, and the existence of the man's own spatial artifact. Each metal pillar was ten coins high, letting Kaius count the total in moments. The exact amount to the silver. 

Kaius nodded to the man with a smile, shoveling handfuls of coin into his saddlebag where he quickly deposited it into the Merchant’s Saddlebag.

“Well, pleasure doing business with you, Jin. I’ll see you in a few days.” Kaius said, offering the man his hand.

Jin shook it, and wished him well, before Kaius took his leave to rejoin with Porkchop outside the shop.

Now they just needed to see if they could hunt down Ianmus. Hopefully he hadn’t left yet.

A/N: little more about the functioning of the guild and economy - it was surprisingly hard to not get too stuck in the weeds of minutia the second he got back to a real city, and even doing my best I still think this sequence could have been shorter - but c'est la vie, i'll do better next time