Chapter 7: Friends and Contracts

Once Tobi had the contract signed at the Sword and Shield Inn, Tobi handed over the casks of Farmers Ale and politely reminded the man of a promised drink upon delivery. The manager laughed and happily instructed a waitress to give Tobi a pint of Farmers Ale. The drink didn’t taste too good, but it did refill part of his energy. The downside was that it seemed to have the opposite effect on his satiety. He’d heard that alcohol made people hungry, but 5 points into energy in exchange for a loss of 20 Satiety didn’t seem like a good tradeoff. Needless to say, he didn’t plan to indulge himself with the drink in the future.

Following the route planned out by Jameson, Tobi’s next destination was the Smithy. The bonus for this particular contract was that the smithy would pay the fee upon delivery—not the Merchant Guild when he returned with the signed contracts. For this reason, Tobi was more eager to make this delivery than many of the others. The Smithy was quite a walk away though, so Tobi pulled out his map and played with its zoom features along the way.

You have just been pick-pocketed. You have lost 2 copper and 2 Fortune.

Spinning on the spot and seeing a tiny shadow flit between a group of people and down an alley, Tobi retrieved his money pouch and checked the contents. As far as he could tell, the pouch was still in perfect condition. The only difference was the fact it was light by two coppers.

His jaw hanging open and staring in bewilderment toward where the small shadow disappeared, Tobi cursed inwardly and put the map away again. If he’d not been messing with the map he might’ve noticed the little sneak make his attempt. He knew pickpocketing was a skill in Aevitas, but somehow he’d never imagined he would be subjected to its uses. He felt that he’d somehow been cheated by SkeaTech rather than the actual pickpocket.

Why did such a skill exist in the first place?

Annoyed with himself, SkeaTech and the pickpocket, Tobi maintained a permanent vigilance and frowned the rest of the way to the Smithy. When he did finally arrive at the Blacksmith's, Tobi’s vigilance stayed and his hand covered his precious pennies—if for no other reason than the fact that a crowd of angry people were gathered outside, shouting about late deliveries and other issues they had.

“There is nothing I can do!” A large, barechested man bellowed at the crowd, a brown apron fitting loosely to cover his well built body, “Until the Merchant Guild deliver my goods, I can’t get started on the items you ordered. If you have a problem, take it up with them! Better yet; go over to the mines and purchase the ore yourself.”

“Yeah right...” Another voice called from the crowd, “Everyone knows that goblins appeared outside the mines. If we go there now we’ll just get killed.”

“And that’s the problem!” The blacksmith shouted back, “With nobody out mining the ore, I can’t make your goods.”

Slipping quietly through the crowd as everyone jostled for space, Tobi eventually made his way to the front and silently passed the contract over to the blacksmith. The man skimmed it quickly before locking his eyes on Tobi, “About time you got here. This was supposed to be delivered yesterday.”

“Sorry about that. I only checked the order contracts a little while ago. As soon as I saw this I took it and came straight here.”

“Better late than never, I guess. Give them to my son, Lukas, he’s in the back room. He will sign the contract and hand over your payment.”

Nodding at the instructions, Tobi took his contract back and went into the smithy—hearing the Blacksmith shouting the good news of the delivery as he made his way inside.

The blacksmith’s was warm and oddly dark, with such a little amount of oxygen in the air that it was hard to breath. The place was probably much better when they were working, but Tobi didn’t like the atmosphere much at all. He did plan to learn Blacksmithing in the end though, so it was an environment he would probably have to get used to. In the meantime, Tobi found the back room and saw a boy no older than twelve sorting through a large pile of paperwork.

“Lukas?” Tobi called out doubtfully.

The boy turned to look over his shoulder at the unrecognized voice. The moment he saw what Tobi was wearing, the boy smiled and rose to his feet, “The delivery is finally here? Come through, I will get your money now. Do you know how pure the ore is by any chance?”

“No, sorry.” Tobi mumbled, making his way toward the stack of papers to see what they were. For the most part the papers appeared to be designs of weapons and armours, but other stuff too. There was also a paper full of orders and costs to manufacture and resale prices. Figuring he shouldn’t pry, Tobi turned away just in time to see Lukas re-enter the room.

“Here you go,” Lukas said, handing over 12 Copper coins and taking the contract, “I know you usually wait for the signing before handing over the goods, but I already paid the fee. I will sign it when you hand over the copper and tin. Put them in those two barrels over there. Copper in the left, Tin in the right.”

‘Fair enough,’ Tobi thought, shrugging and taking the 60 ores from his backpack.

Once the task was complete, Lukas signed the contract and handed it back over. After an additional moment of hesitation, Lukas sighed and shook his head.

“Can I help with anything else?”

Lukas shook his head again, his shoulders slumping slightly, “No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about my brother. He went to the mines with a Merchant to buy some coal from the foreman. The Merchant owed my dad a favour so he was going to bargain the deal for us and haul it back. When the Goblins attacked, the Merchant ran back to the city. They hadn’t even reached the mines yet. My brother didn’t come back with him though; he ran to help defend the mines until the city guard show up.”

“So I reminded you of the Merchant that went with your brother?” Tobi guessed, feeling a little sorry for Lukas and hoping his brother was OK.

“Heh, not exactly. Goblins are pretty dumb at the best of times. They’re only dangerous when they form a horde. From what we heard there’s only sixty to eighty goblins there. That probably means there is no hobgoblin leading them. The miners will make sure they don’t get into the mines and cause any trouble. My brother will be fine.”

“So…?” Tobi asked, at a loss for where he came into it.

“When the goblins are routed and it’s time for my brother to buy the coal, the Merchant won’t be there to make the deal and bring the stuff back.”

“Ah.” Tobi said, suddenly understanding, “You were hoping I would do it. I take it your dad called in the favour from the Merchant because you’re not in a position to pay for the services?”

“It’s not that we can’t pay, it’s just that we can’t pay yet. We fell behind on orders doing a job for Lord Brackley. But just as we was about to finish Lord Brackley’s order, he cancelled it. Now we’re stuck. We need the payment for Brackley’s order to buy the ore needed for the other orders.”

“What did Lord Brackley order?” Tobi asked, thinking he could make the money they need by selling the items to the guild or stores using his Profit ability.

“Decorative armour.” Lukas scoffed, “Absolutely useless. It’s not worth the iron it’s made out of. Lord Brackley designed it himself, apparently, so even if we wanted to find another rich idiot to buy it, we probably wouldn’t be able to.”

“I see…” Tobi mumbled, wanting to help but not entirely sure on how he could, “What was you hoping I could do about it?”

“Like you said; we can’t afford to buy anything right now. My dad’s friend was going to make a contract with them and act as the guarantor. If we didn’t pay then he would inherit the debt. His contract would force him to pay the bill or face the penalty of breaching the contract. Only Merchants can create those kinds of contracts, so…”

“And what if you don’t pay? I can’t afford it either.”

Lukas paused for a second and glanced out the way Tobi had come in, “If my dad put up the deed to this Smithy in the event that we don’t pay, would you be willing then?”

Tobi considered it for all of one second before shaking his head, “I doubt your dad would agree to that.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” A deep voice called from the doorway, “This place is worth hundreds of Gold, while the coal isn’t even worth five silver. If circumstances were that dire, I’d just sell this place and build everything back up from scratch. If you want my guarantee, then it’s simple. If I can’t pay the bill for the coal within a week, I’ll sell this place and pay the bill after that.”

“OK, I can live with that.” Tobi said, already planning on what kind of agreement he could make with the foreman, “When the Goblins have been routed, I will go to the mines and make the deal for you, but first you will have to make a deal with me.”

The Blacksmith nodded his agreement, “OK, what’s the deal?”

For the next five minutes, Tobi and the Blacksmith negotiated back and forth until they settled on an agreement that both could accept. When the negotiations finally came to an end, a notification appeared before each of them explaining the details of their contract.

Contract Agreement between Tobi Donlan and Brion Cobbler.

Terms & Conditions:

Tobi Donlan will head to Brackley Mines to meet Riley Cobbler and negotiate a trade agreement for coal on behalf of the Cobbler family. The trade agreement must be for 20 sacks of Coal at a price not exceeding 5 Silver. The price is to be paid by the Cobbler family within 14 days of the agreement being made. In the event that Brion Cobbler doesn’t pay the agreed price, Tobi Donlan will inherit the bill.

Brion Cobbler will pay the agreed price for the 20 sacks of Coal within 7 days. In the event that Brion Cobbler does not pay the bill, he will sell his Smithery and pay the bill within the following 7 days.

Upon inheriting the debt for the coal belonging originally to the Cobbler family, Tobi will pay off the debt within 7 additional days.

Breach of Contract Penalty:

Brion Cobbler: Will hand over the deed to his Smithery to Tobi Donlan. Failure to handover the deed for any reason will result in death and an unspecified curse will be placed upon his two sons, Riley and Lukas Cobbler.

Tobi Donlan: In the event of failing to make an agreement for 20 sacks of coal, Tobi Donlan will mine 20 sacks worth of coal for the Cobbler family, free of charge, within a four week period. In the event that an agreement for 20 sacks of coal is made and inheriting the debt, yet failing to pay it off within the following seven days, Tobi Donlan will become a slave to the Cobbler family for a period of Five Years. All wealth and belongings of Tobi Donlan during this time will be inherited by the Cobbler family and never returned.

“Agreed.” Brion called out, waving his hand and dismissing the notification window.

Tobi continued to stare at the contract in amazement and read through it two more times. As a player, he wasn’t sure how the penalty conditions could possibly work, but the penalties were the non negotiable conditions set by Brion himself. Tobi hadn’t wanted to curse either of the son’s or cause Brion’s death, but as long as Brion handed over the deed or paid the debt, then the breach of contract didn’t mean much of anything. The only real downside was failing to make an agreement in the first place, as that would force him to mine 20 sacks worth of coal—however much that could be. But what if he didn’t mine the coal?

‘Well he probably intends to pay off the bill anyway, so he probably didn’t think about it too much. Meh, if I have to, I will just delete the character anyways…’

“Fine, I agree too.” Tobi said, closing his own contract window as he did, “Now, how do I get to the mines? They aren’t within the range of my map.”

“Just follow the City Guard.” Lukas called from the corner, where’d he’d been standing throughout the negotiations between Tobi and his father.

“The city guard?”

“Yeah. They were waiting for the Travellers to return in hopes that they’d wipe out the Goblins, but because they’re still not back, they’re sending out some of their own people. They’ve already sent requests to the Mage and Healer Guilds for support. They’re gathering at the East gate right now. The Merchant Guild will probably go along as well to act as looters. Goblins don’t give much, but a Merchant never turns down free money, no matter how little. You can just join them or follow at the back.”

‘I could follow at the back, at least…’ Tobi admitted mentally, remembering what Jameson had said about Merchant Guild Rankings. If he wanted to join a subjugation party he had to reach the second Rank of the Merchants Guild. Following at the back shouldn’t be a problem though. There was also the fact that Daiyan’s farm was on the East side of the city. If he was quick, maybe he could pick up the flour before they set off. Or he could just pick it up on the way back. Either way would save him some time with his other deliveries. He still had a little over 5 hours before he had to log off anyway.

“OK, I will do that. How will I recognize Riley?”

Brion chuckled and looked toward Lukas, “Just look for a bigger version of him. He’ll be carrying two big hammers and probably won’t have anything covering his upper body. If there is a particular mine entrance with an oddly high amount of dead Goblins, he’s probably there somewhere.”

Admiring Brion’s confidence, Tobi nodded his head and rose to his feet, “I guess I better be going then, if I am going to catch up to the city guard. Any idea on how long this subjugation will take?”

“Not long,” Brion shrugged, “the Goblins run away as soon as they know they can’t win. They might run as soon as they see the city guard. If they do put up a fight, it won’t last long. Goblins are all below level 25 and the city guard are all over level 20. As long as there are no Hobgoblins mixed in, it will be as simple as a routine patrol to the mines and back.”

~~~

Arriving at the Eastern Gate, Tobi was instantly attracted to the loud and festive atmosphere happening all around. Women and children laughed and joked among themselves while armed men poked fun at each other in harmless banter. Most of the men were walking out of the gates haphazardly while the women waved them off. They didn’t look so much like an army as a motley mob that was relatively well armed.

Coming down another street off to the side on the other hand was the very definition of military discipline. Instead of consisting of armed men in armour though, the twenty or so men and women were dressed in fine robes of either red, blue, brown or green. They walked in two perfect rows, each in step with the person in front and behind.

Guessing that the marching squad were members of the Mage Guild, Tobi stopped to watch their approach. Even as they marched around the corner and moved toward the city gates, their perfect formation didn’t falter at all. Immediately behind them however came another bunch of people that were as crowded and uncoordinated as the armed men from before. This group, however, were dressed almost entirely in matching white robes. The exceptions were three youngsters in brown robes that cut off just above the knee.

‘Healers;’ Tobi guess, watching the group follow the mages as they too rounded the corner.

Once the two additional groups passed through the gates, the crowd of onlookers started to disperse, most talking about irrelevant things that had nothing to do with goblins or the mines. A couple of people did show some concern however and Tobi couldn’t help but look toward a boy asking his mother if his dad was going to be alright against the scary goblins. When the woman comforted the boy unconvincingly, the boy took it as gospel truth and clenched his fist triumphantly.

Putting the crowd out of his mind, and dismissing the terrible image he conjured of the boy’s face after his father was killed by goblins, Tobi followed the healers out of the gate and prepared to follow them at a safe distance.

The difference outside the city to what he saw inside couldn’t have been any different. In the few moments it took for Tobi to follow the healers out of the city, the City Guard had formed a very orderly formation and stood at attention in their respective places. Even with his own inexperienced eyes, Tobi could recognize how the troops had organized themselves. Four warriors, two archers, two mages and two healers fell into each group, forming a single whole out of ten groups of ten. How many times they must have formed similar formations, Tobi couldn’t guess. But he was definitely impressed. The lack of discipline from earlier had all but disappeared.

A single man walked the line in front of the gathered company, taking the time to look at each and every individual as he passed.

“I give thanks to the Mage and Healer Guilds for joining us today,” The man shouted for all to hear, “The reports we got a few hours ago was that a few dozen Goblins have gathered outside the mines to the East. An hour ago, that report changed to eighty Goblins and they were still gathering. None had made a move toward the city or the mines, they were only gathering. Ten minutes ago, the report said that the Goblins have now exceeded more than two hundred. There is definitely a couple of Hobgoblins mixed in, so I must caution you all to remain vigilant and protect each other at all times. As it seems to Merchant Guild will not be—oh, they’re here.”

Turning on his heel to see where the man was looking, Tobi spotted two dozen men and women walking over. Only half of them were wearing the standard silk clothing however, as the other half were wearing leather armours and carried a wide variety of weapons and shields.

“Sorry we’re late,” a voice Tobi recognized shouted back toward the commander, “I hope we haven’t slowed you down too much.”

“Not at all,” the commander called back, “glad to have you with us. And your Mercenaries, of course.”

Lyle chuckled at that without comment, the Merchants all separating and joining their own groups within the army. Each Merchant took a single Mercenary with them into whichever group they joined.

“It seems you’re a little shorthanded today,” The commander noted as only twelve of his sections gained additional members.

While the group of Merchants spaced themselves out, Tobi recognized a few more faces mixed in the crowd. One was the guard he’d seen at the Alchemist Guild Warehouse, while another was Leesa, happily linking a handsome looking mercenary as she lead him to a group at the far end of the company.

“We weren’t going to come at all,” Lyle answered back with a shrug, “you didn’t exactly need our mercenaries before and the profit gained from looting goblins isn’t really worth it. We only come now because we heard there will be Hobgoblins mixed in. We’d have brought more, but there simply wasn’t enough time.”

The commander nodded at that but Tobi couldn’t help but think Lyle was a little stuck up; and more than a little rude.

“What about that one?” the commander asked, gesturing his head toward Tobi. Several onlookers including Lyle turned to see who he was indicating.

“He is still a first rank Merchant, he didn’t receive the Guild invite.” Lyle answered plainly. Tobi did note that his face seemed slightly apologetic though.

“That’s something for your guild to care about. My men won’t object to another Looter helping earn them some extra coin. Lad, if you want to join us, just fall into one of the groups. My men will look after you.”

Without daring to spare a glance toward Lyle, Tobi gave a brisk nod toward the commander and moved to the group that was the furthest removed from any other Merchant. If any group in the company wouldn’t have been benefitting from the Looter ability, it would have been that one. It seemed the soldiers didn’t miss out on what Tobi had done either, as several of them gave Tobi polite gestures of welcome when he joined their ranks.

“Stay beside the healer,” a mage in brown whispered, “If the worst happens, I will make sure you’re both OK.”

Silently obeying the instruction, Tobi moved across to the girl in a brown robe that didn’t quite reach the knee. She appeared to be around fifteen years old with long, dark hair. Tobi didn’t pay much attention to her, but he didn’t miss the fact that she blushed when he’d looked toward her legs. There wasn’t anything perverse in his glance, only an idle thought that it must be embarrassing to wear such a short robe. At least for a girl. Clearly it was too, considering the fact she blushed.

The company moved out just a minute or so later. It was only then that Tobi chanced a look in Lyle’s direction. Unfortunately, Lyle hadn’t yet turned his attention away and Tobi wished he hadn’t looked. As far as evil looks went, Lyle seemed to have it pretty much nailed. No doubt Tobi would have to face Lyle’s wrath at some point in the future. So long as he got paid for the contract deliveries though, Tobi was more than happy to flip him the bird and move on. Clearly, according to the City Guard Commander, he didn’t really need the Guilds permission in the first place.