Drip-Fed

 

Several days later, the party sat back in the Adventurer’s Guild. Reysha tossed several herbs into the soup that she had just bought. The green particles swam on top of the broth, then on top of the spoonful she took of the meal.

When Reysha filled her mouth with the food, it tasted bland. Bland was a massive improvement over the wretched taste of botfly maggots and puss that she was used to. The herb was a medical agent typically used to make vile concoctions go down easier. It numbed the taste buds for a short time, which worked well enough to make Reysha capable of eating a good meal.

The herbs had been costly, coming from a different Leaf altogether, but they were shelf stable, worked in small quantities, and could be sprinkled on basically anything. If there was a drawback to them, it was that overreliance on them would have her building up a resistance. For now, Reysha was just happy not to have to force herself to remain nourished.

‘Luckily, I was always good at suppressing my gag reflex,’ she thought to herself and listened to the music. It was a different Bard that stood on the table today. There were many of them, each in competition to see who could get the most drinks paid for.

As per usual, it was a festive song.

“In the Guild we gather,

In the Guild we laugh,

In the Guild we splatter,

Drink all over the tabletops!”

The refrain was met with a unified cheer. Korith herself raised a mug full of ale, joining all the others in a loud “EY!” The blonde let out a satisfied sigh after taking a huge swig from her mug. It would have been large in the hands of a regular person. Smiling like a dopey drunk, she sat there, enjoying the simplicity of affording alcohol.

“As the days go by,

As the purse goes empty,

As the rent is due,

We take on the Quests we can!”

For some reason, Korith found those lyrics unfathomably funny. That this was her third mug likely contributed to that. She laughed and laughed, much to the amusement of the other party members at the table.

“Do we fight for ale?

Do we fight for girls?

Do we fight for justice?

Yes and no, too hard to say!”

“YES AND NO, TOO HARD TO SAY!” The crowd echoed the phrase.

Aclysia smiled at the merriment but did her best to ignore the noise. Her eyes were focused on the compilation of religious texts that she had acquired. Every line in the book had been touched by her gaze before and would be many more times.

 “In the Guild, we gather,

In the Guild we laugh,

In the Guild we splatter,

Drink all over the tabletops!”

The song played out with a long and complicated series of notes from the violin of the Bard. All of the crowd went wild for the two minutes that it was drawn out, the musician using the opportunity to display the range of his skills, while all others danced in manners jovial.

Apexus took in the scene. It was nice to be amongst happy people. That being said, the overexposure of sensual inputs was starting to bother him. Much as he enjoyed the setting in small doses, he preferred to leave and soon at that.

Earlier that day, they had picked Korith’s new armour, putting them at their new combat capability. Plenty of money remained in their pockets, so they were in no hurry in a financial sense. There was an unspoken wish at the table to keep in motion, however. The trio, more so than Korith, wished to become stronger. If they wanted to ever play a role in dealing with Apotho, then they had to become stronger.

“We should talk about our next move,” Apexus finally brought it up.

“Yesh, Mashtahr, we should!” Korith slurred drunkenly, spilling a substantial amount of ale on herself. “Noooo, thish stuff costsh money!” She exclaimed. Aclysia closed her book, put it away, and pulled a handkerchief out in its place. The drunken kobold had just enough self-control to dry herself up.

“Water for her, please,” Apexus spoke to a nearby tavern wench, who nodded and swiftly went to fetch it. “Can you listen?”

“No, Shir!” Korith continued to drawl the wrong syllables. “Am drank.”

“Sober Korith won’t mind us making a decision without her,” Reysha said.

Aclysia wrestled the mug from the kobold’s hand and replaced it with the glass of water that arrived a moment later. “What certainty do you have of that?”

“Lemme just recreate her input really quick: ‘Money, I want money! All the money for Hoard!’”

“FOR THE HOARD!” Korith shouted. The raised voice just joined other screams in the room. The night was going on and drunkenness was more frequent than not.

Korith, however, had reached her capacity limit. She downed the glass of water, thinking it to still be ale, then slumped forward onto the table. A cute snore just a few seconds later proved she had immediately fallen asleep.

Aclysia sighed and gave in on the matter. “Very well, if she disagrees vehemently, she can tell us so come morning. What do we have in mind?”

“Personal request.” Reysha pulled out the journal and flipped to one of the latter pages. “Says here that you can extract a ‘Spice of Magic’ by boiling dungeon monsters in healing fountain water in a certain way. It’s a fairly stable way to get something that I could transport to eat food and have it actually taste good.”

“A dungeon dive, then?” Apexus waited for Aclysia to take out and unfurl the map she had acquired recently. It, like the local map that the merchant had possessed, was covered with a hexagonal grid that roughly represented how far an adventurer party was expected to get in a day. Obviously, it was inaccurate, terrain being what it was, but it was good enough to get a general idea.

“The closest dungeon we should dare challenge would be Chimerion.” She tapped twice on the orange diamond in the northern part of the Zone of Influence. “By this map, getting there would take us at least 16 days. An additional estimation of 50% is likely wise, considering the hostility this area is supposed to offer.”

“That works for us in this case,” Apexus said. “We are level 23 average. The dungeon is level 25 to 30. We require additional training before we enter it.”

“It would be wise to acquire at least some enchanted items as well, before we tackle such a challenge,” Aclysia weighed in. “Our items are now merely appropriate for our level, we should aim to have additional tools at our disposal.”

“Sounds smart to me – so what’s the idea?” Reysha expected Aclysia to have a plan already and she was not disappointed.

“Caravans make it from Drowse to Altuan and Summerdawn semi-regularly,” Aclysia shared what she had gathered over the last few days. “Merchants, primarily, that wish to bring their wares to a less competitive market. To Altuan, the traders prefer ships, rented or bought, which require some protection between the regularly patrolled coastal areas.” The finger of the metal fairy traced the white borders of the settlements.

“I know it’s been a while, but I am still sick of water,” Reysha groaned.

“It would be the lesser part of our journey. To Summerdawn, traders either set out from Drowse itself and make it across Chimerion or they start in Altuan and follow the river up to the border. However, I do not suggest we join one of these caravans.”

Apexus was relieved to hear that, but he still had to ask. “Why not?”

“As you acutely observed, darling, our current level is too low. Caravans survive on the basis of numbers, so we would be part of a larger collective. Individual pay would also be mediocre. Additionally, our Mobile Estate makes us detached from the wider caravan during the pivotal night hours.”

“We could always, ya know, not use it?” Reysha’s suggestion was met with a reluctant sigh.

“I would much rather retain my privacy,” the metal fairy stated. Apexus and Reysha did not fully understand, they hardly minded mating in front of other people, but they knew that she and Korith preferred thick walls around them. “Wares and people are, however, not the only thing that flows from Drowse to the other outposts.”

“What else is there?” Apexus asked.

“Items and documents,” the metal fairy said. “Not all can be or is desired to be relayed via the Scribes of the Guild. Summerdawn and Altuan both currently name themselves as independent city-states, which the local outpost of the Sleeping Empire finds disagreeable. Diplomacy is the current route and the nobles prefer their letters delivered in the condition they write them, alongside various tokens and trinkets of threat or appreciation.”

“So, they need runners,” Reysha noted. “What’s the pay like?”

“100 Platin – yes, I am serious,” Aclysia pre-empted the question. On the table, Korith giggled, the mention of such a sum bringing her pleasant dreams. “Acquiring the Quest is a highly competitive affair. Obviously, a great number of adventurers are eager to gain such a paycheck. In order to narrow down the candidates, the local nobility will hold a series of tests tomorrow. Whoever impresses them the most will be chosen to deliver the diplomatic package.”

“What a fortunate timing,” Apexus commented.

“Korith won’t agree with you come morning,” Reysha joked. “What if we don’t get the job?”

“We will attempt to find a humbler version of a similar Quest. Regular people want individual items delivered all the time and it is usually safer to let a party like us handle it.”

“How so?” Apexus asked. “A caravan has many more people. If they entrust it to someone that is part of it, that should be safer.”

“In theory, you are correct, darling. In reality, whenever a group expands to a certain size, selfish elements will surface. An item entrusted to a singular group means that the group can be tracked by the mechanisms of the Guild. Our departure and arrival will be logged and the message sent via Scribes back to the person who placed the Quest here. Items that are part of caravans tend to vanish.”

“That is to say, someone swipes it,” Reysha puts it more bluntly. “If it’s just in the cart, it just takes a Rogue to take it while no one is looking. The merchant won’t make a giant fuss about something that’s not his to begin with. If it’s with an adventurer, there’s some elements out there that’ll arrange a convenient ‘screw-up’. The adventurer will get drunk, forget their bag somewhere, and when they find it again the item is gone, only to reappear on the black market sometime, if at all. ‘Course, the entire thing happens with the adventurer’s knowledge, but it looks like an accident so not much that can be done about it.”

“Unless a pattern is established,” Aclysia pointed out.

“Some people conveniently lose stuff too frequently,” Reysha agreed.

“How often does this happen?” Apexus asked.

“Doesn’t take very often for people to be distrustful,” Reysha answered. “If you had a 1 in 100 chance to get smacked in the face every time you enter a tavern, hard, but the prices are 20% lower, would you go to that tavern? Probably not, right?”

“If the competition is better.”

“The competition is indeed better. Delivery for expensive items from Drowse to Altuan is a well-established system and some parties make their living exclusively off being the ones to make such deliveries. We have arrived in early Spring, which is when most deliveries are placed. We would not qualify for one of the better jobs, but we would find a job, guaranteed.”

Aclysia gestured back at the map, tracing a route with her fingers.

“My proposal, therefore, would be to get one of those delivery Quests and make our way to Summerdawn. There, we will use our newfound wealth to acquire magical items, be they enchanted armament or consumables, and then travel to Chimerion. If the dungeon proves too difficult for us initially, we can find more Quests locally, preferably purging Incursions to increase our levels and wealth.”

“Sounds like a plan. That should keep us busy and fed for a month or two.” Reysha grinned widely. “Look at us, living the regular adventuring life.”

“It is pleasant,” Apexus stated. “Albeit I miss the chaos of nature somewhat.”

If all went according to plan, he would taste it again soon enough.