“Good. I’ll buy them from you for the new militia members I’ve recently hired if your willing to sell at a fair price. The goblins in the south swamp by the twins are getting uppity again.” Bardigan said offhandedly as he examined the short sword.
“Well, the gambeson armor is going to need repair and washing,” I said stepping into the situation. “If you don’t want to deal with that, we can do it for a little extra coin. Not too much mind you, but enough to cover the labor.” Everyone looked at me quietly.
“You meathead,” Ailsa said smacking herself in the forehead. “As the only one in the caravan that has a cart, Riggil is the only one eligible for caravan leadership. As the leader of the caravan, Riggil gets to deal with this on his own.” I nodded making the oh with my mouth quietly and backed up a pace turning to roll up my bedroll before I stepped into any other delicate social situations I was poorly equipped for.
“Don’t worry young adventurer,” Riggil said with a cackle in his voice. “I’ll take care of it.” The old man turned back to the Sheriff and the two began negotiating a price for the labor of repair, washing, and then delivery. In the end Riggil proved an astute negotiator, earning us 1 gold for each usable weapon, 10 silver per gambison, plus repair costs and 1 extra silver per day of labor rounded up to the whole silver, and 1 silver per leather jerkin as long as they still had belt, harness, and a loop sheath. Half a silver if it was damaged and needed repair or was missing one of those things.
As the sheriff and his two guards walked off after giving Riggil the information about where to deliver it all too, along with a free pass for us all into the town and market, the old man cackled almost evilly. “Nearly 12 gold in total!” Riggil laughed and danced a little jig on the spot.
“So what's the split?” My question stopped the old man's dance and he turned to regard me.
“What makes you think you get a share?” he asked harshly.
“Well, not just me, but everyone here. We all guarded you and helped you get here. Not to mention we killed almost all of those guys, not you.” I said pointing to Ailsa, Tol’geth and then myself.
“Yes well, you were in my employ. We had a quest contract remember? You were paid with the ride, and once we get into the town your quest will be done and you’ll get your experience reward.” He said regarding me with skepticism and concern.
“You’re, you are kidding me. Right? I mean really…” I was getting really angry, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from this old man, from this pathetic weakling who was trying to exploit me and my friends!
I might usually be a calm, creative, nice, and a bit of a calculating person most of the time but I had a temper when someone tried to cheat me, particularly someone who I thought was a friend. It flared up and manifested itself in instantly hot anger, and paranoia that years of grief, attachment, and trust issues only exasperated. “You’re going to tell me that you’re going to cheat me, and them!”I yelled as I gestured at the rest of camp. My vision started going red with anger at the betrayal.
I took a couple of steps towards the old man who flinched. Ailsa zoomed in front of me to stop me from doing something stupid.
“Wow their big guy, she said as she strained against my steps. “Don’t hurt the old man.” At that moment, I had no idea what she was talking about, then I looked down, anger still tinting my vision, and I saw I had a star clenched in my fist.
How did that get there?
Riggil looked at me as if I had grown a third head, that was being french kissed by a second head that grew out of thin air. “You know what? This is probably a cultural thing…” I said a little desperately, trying to calm myself down as my fairy friend pushed against my chest making sure I didn’t move again.
I clung to that thread, that thin line of reasoning that allowed me to climb my way back to rationality and sanity. “Yeah, that's probably what this is,” I told myself aloud. I looked over at Tol’geth, and I found the two children standing behind him wearing worried expressions on their faces, while he gripped his sword in front of him. An expression on his face that I had never seen before, worry, concern, confusion, and a little bit of guilt.
I realized then that I had let the stress of the last three days build up into this outburst. I hadn’t seen Riggil, my friend who I had joked and laughed with along the way. The man who had helped take care of me when I had almost died. I had seen the coin he was trying to take from me unfairly and my anger was released when he was erased and all I saw was a money-grubbing old man trying to cheat me.
Under the torrent of stress from almost being killed multiple times, being rendered effectively catatonic, seeing a friend nearly die, sleeping in the open cold, and constantly being on alert, my sanity and calm, temporarily, snapped like a twig. I had no idea what it looked like to the others, let alone Riggil.
I took a deep, cleansing breath, and the red haze of rage and paranoia that had filled my mind just a minute ago, slowly ebbed. When I opened my eyes a few seconds later, I saw Riggil standing by Tol’geth, who was between me and the rest of the group, save my fairy friend who wore an expression of pain, fear, and sadness. Depression is a bitch sometimes. I thought sadly.
I turned to Riggil “I apologize.” I said “My outburst had nothing to do with you. It was, all of this.” I said as I gestured around me. “This place, it is new, with new things. Even if I don’t let it show, I am under a lot of stress right now. New people, new places, new languages, new… magic.” I said as I spread my hands and let out a tiny mana construct I had crafted out of the dangerous Force Bolt I had been holding.
The multicolored prismatic butterfly took off and began dancing to distract the children who laughed and created constructs of their own to play with it. I love mana manipulation, I thought as a smile slowly crossed my face and tension shed off me like water on a rock.
“New customs, and new social etiquette and niceties that I’m having to grow used to. I miss my friends and …” I got a little choked up then, my eyes grew a little moist. “...and my family. I took all of that out on you Riggil, over a simple misunderstanding.
“Will you please forgive me?” I asked as I put out my hand for Riggil to shake. It was a simple gesture, but at that moment it held a lot of meaning. Riggil took it and began to smile.
“Aye lad, don’t worry too much about it.” He said as he pulled me into a surprisingly strong hug. “I’ve been right where you are.” He released me and looked me square in the eye. “Better to have your crisis here, among friends, then out there among the wolves, bears, and bandits, eh?” I laughed patted him on the shoulder and wiped the moisture from my eyes.
Tol’geth for his part lowered his sword when we had embraced, and now just looked deeply confused. Ailsa fluttered over to him and conversed with the large barbarian quietly, answering his questions and helping him understand what had just happened. After a few exchanges, he laughed, walked over to me and picked me up in a massive, crushing hug. “You passed your first trial little wizard!” He exclaimed proudly. I had no idea what he was talking about.
“You have passed the trial of the adjustment! You are now a man!” He explained when he put me down. I was not used to being crushed like that, being 6’1, I was used to doing the crushing, so it was a bit of a surreal experience for me.
“A man? Um, I was already a man.” Tol’geth shook his head at my pronouncement. “What? I’m 26 years old, if I wasn’t a man by now then when would I be one?” I asked a little annoyed.
“No, you are an adult. It's not the same as a varidian man, like me and mine. The trial of adjustment is the first hurdle that a young boy must overcome when it undertakes his Tep’tal’deen.”
The word translated into roughly, great epic warrior journey of manhood. From the few human varidian words I’ve heard, he and his people are not very subtle. I thought wryly, but then again it's probably perfectly descriptive of what it is. I asked the question he was expecting “What is that?”
“It is the
journey a boy must take to become a man. He leaves his tribe with a single friend and ally, and the lands of our people, and goes to visit other places to learn and do service. Usually, he visits the bull people, then the centaurs where the mountains meet the great grass sea west of here. Then he meets the horse lords, probably gets in some fights, does some service worthy of his name, learns some things and returns home within two years. It is a great experience!” He proclaimed. That sounded very familiar. “There are five trials, you have passed the first two!” He said letting his joy overcome him again. He began walking and pushing me along with a hand on my back. I looked back and the others started packing up camp.
“What are these trials? And I thought you said that I passed the first trial, how have I passed two? That doesn't make any sense.” He lead me to the far side of the few pines we had sheltered in last night.
“The first trial is the trial of denial. Any person may choose to not go on a Tep’tal’deen, It is never forced. But there is great pressure to do so. A person who chooses to not go on to such service is never seen as a full warrior. Though, there are other things they can do to earn such status should they chose to forgo the Tep’tal’deen or are unable to.” This was all sounding suspiciously familiar to me.
“So, you have passed two trials, and your first trial on your Tep’tal’deen, we must celebrate!” With that, he pulled out a large flask of something and handed it to me. I protested that I didn’t drink alcohol, and Tol’geth looked offended. “Those who are on their Tep’tal’deen do not imbibe such things. Nor do they partake of women or the grasses that old men with brittle bones use to ebb their pain.”
Okay, this was getting ridiculous . Fighting from rolling my eyes I asked “So, what is this then?”
“It is saccharin water. Sweet, and easy to drink, but it contains many vitamins and minerals that a traveler needs!”
I felt like I was sitting in on one of those essential oil pitch meetings where they tried to get you to buy their newest product. ‘This year's line is ten times more potent and healthy for you’ or something like that. Every time I went to the mall I got harassed by those guys. They were a strangely unique plague on the Utah culture that was an otherwise overly educated and skeptical people. Utahn’s tended to buy into their pseudo-science and health claims in droves.
“You should drink deeply, your nerves need it.” He said more solemnly. I took the flask and drank a mouth full. It was sweet, and yet bracing, it was oddly reminiscent of flat coke. The familiar taste and biting feel steadied my nerves after a few seconds. I had no doubt it was riddled with caffeine. I even got a small notification telling me just as much.
“You are now heavily caffeinated. Effects: +2 to all skill checks for 2 hours. After, -2 to all skill checks until sleep. +4 hours of wakefulness.”
I sighed “Thank you, you’re right I needed that.” Tol’geth grunted, and we stood there together for another few minutes in comfortable silence, just watching the empty fields that rolled on into the distance.
“You two coming?” Called Ailsa from beyond the trees behind us. We looked at each other, shrugged, and walked through the pines together.
---
A few minutes later the cart filled, the pony harnessed, and we walked through the front gates of Cutters Hollow. A prompt appeared in my vision.
“You and your surrogate Tol’geth the Varidian, have completed the quest titled “Lonely Road 1” by safely getting Riggil, the old man and wood merchant, back to his home of Cutters Hollow. Reward: 100xp. Surrogate reword, 100 x 100 (due to level and class ability modifiers) XP. Hidden rewards: Improved relationship status with Riggil from friendly acquaintance to trusted friend. Improved local reputation, from Unknown “Who? Never heard of Them” to Obscure “ Uh, wait. Is that the guy who…?” Effects to be discovered.”
As soon as I finished reading it I got another prompt.
“You have leveled up! Current level, 4. As you are less than level 10 you gain 3 free characteristic points to distribute. Distribute these within the next 48 hours, or they will be randomly redistributed for you.”
“Hey guys,” I called out “I just reached level 4!” They all patted me on the back and congratulated me, but it was far more subdued a reaction then I had thought I would get. Then again, level 10 seems to be a major threshold. From what Ailsa’s told me that's the point where fully grown adults are expected to be or higher, I thought to myself. That's just another thing that I'm going to have to write down when I finally get a journal.
We rolled past the gates, and immediately found ourselves in a large open square, that was more of a circle, with three gravel roads leading out in a wheel from where we were. There was a growing morning market down one spoke, the docks down the road directly in front of us, it was busy with people loading large logs onto low keeled barges with others waiting their turn behind. Several large barges were beached and being prepared for storage during the coming winter months. That gives me an idea, I thought before my gaze continued on. Down the west-facing street was row after row of longhouses made of the same wood the place produced.
At the very end of that road, we saw a squat two-story brick building that seemed to tower over the small cottages and low roofed longhouses. Riggil turned the cart down that road, and we eventually found ourselves in front of the two-story building with a sign that read simply “Town Hall” above its double doors.
“Everyone off” Riggil ordered and we all complied. “I’ll take this around back where the Sheriff instructed me to take the arms and armor. Once I get what is to be paid, and arranged for mending and cleaning from local washers and sewers, I’ll be back to finalize things with yall. Sound good?” We all nodded, and Riggil tapped his pony into movement.
“Bye!” called the two elves as they waved to his back. He turned and waved back at them.
“Well Tol’geth, you mentioned needing to find another elvish child?” The large man nodded. “I’d be willing to help you look in the city if you would like.”
Ailsa buzzed her wings excitedly “Yeah, me too. I’d be willing to help, what does the rascal look like?” She asked as she began to spin in circles around my head.
“This one’s name is Tim.”
“That's, that's an odd name for an elf.” Was all I could think to say.
“It's short for Tim’el’ek. He’s the son of one of the high elvish magi who accompanied the ambassador from Varidian proper, passed my home in Barisel at the gap. He, he has pointy ears.” There was an uncomfortable silence as we waited for the man to finish the description.
“And?” I finally prompted. “What else? Anything else you can tell us that would help?” I looked at the two other elvish children, but they only shrugged.
“There are a lot of magi that came with the ambassador, and we don’t play with all of their children.” Telli said irritated.
“Yeah, they’re kind of stuck up.” Markel said. “And, my mother said they can be a bad influence on us. The high elves are way meaner than us Greatwood elves.” I sighed, apparently even elves where not above racial and societal prejudice.
“Fair enough. We’ll look for, pointy ears, while you go speak with the Sheriff” I said.
“What do you mean? I need to speak with the law man of this city, not the leader of the local military.” Tol’geth asked.
“Yeah, in a lot of small towns like this people in leadership positions often have to wear multiple hats, so to speak. From what I gather the Sheriff is also the town militia leader.”
“So, I could have asked him earlier at camp.” Tol’geth said irritated at the situation.
“Yeah, I was wondering why you didn’t. Sheriff is a title, not a name, it means law-man in more rural and wild settings like this.” I explained as Ailsa continued to spin in the air overhead. Tol’geth growled and began walking into the building irritated, and I followed close at hand, the elves and Ailsa trailing us. I wasn’t worried about them, Ailsa could probably take on most of the
people in the city if she really wanted to.
The building was a simple long style city hall. As we walked in, there was one main connecting corridor that all of the rooms and offices in the building connected to directly. Tol’geth looked at all of them and growled in annoyance again. I looked around for a directory of some kind and was rewarded with a small bulletin that listed the names of the different city officials and what room number they where in. “ Hold on Tol’geth I found the directory. Let me find his office. Sheriff, sheriff, sheriff…” I said to myself as I went down the list. I found it near the bottom, room 210. “Second floor.” I said and pointed towards the wooden staircases on each side of the hallway opposite each other.
“This way big guy” I said as I passed him and walked for the nearest one. When we finally got to the office, Tol’geth walked right in as I was about to Knock.
“I must speak with your law-man. Now.” He said to a startled looking female clerk who worked the front desk. Scratch that, the only desk in the front room.
“I’m sorry.” I said as I pushed past the Varidian. “My friend isn’t use to life in a town as big as this. He doesn’t mean to be rude. Right Tol’geth?” He stood straighter, and bowed slightly. I might not know all of the social intricacies at play here, but I do speak bureaucracy. “He’s looking for a missing child, so you can understand if he’s a bit upset.”
“A missing child?! Oh gosh, not another one.” The woman put her hand up covering her mouth. She was a stout and sturdy looking older woman with brown hair, who wore the only splash of color in the entire building that wasn't brown or white, on her yellow clerical dress. “The Sheriff will want to be notified immediately! Thats what he told me at least, next missing child contact him right away, he said.” She pulled out a small wooden box from under the desk. The box contained only one thing, a tiny pebble that seemed to hum slightly.
Next missing child? That reminds me of what those bandits said. I wonder what's going on around here. No wonder the elves sent Tol’geth to get their kids back. Seemed like overkill at first, but that, and the town watch's reluctance to let us in before morning makes more sense now , I thought as I watched the woman work.
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