EXP GAINED

13X GIANT RAT (20) = 260

1X BIG GIANT RAT (50) = 50

SUBTOTAL

310

SHARED WITH PARTY (-155) = 155

OTHERWORLDER BONUS (+155) = 310

EXP TOTAL

PREVIOUS TOTAL (40) + NEWLY GAINED EXP (310) = 350

CURRENT EXP

350

The pair began their trek back towards the town. The pair of guards that stood outside raised a hand and one stepped forward, taking a moment as she saw the pair of adventurers that had only just left.

“What happened?” she asked as she looked at how rough they looked, gripping her spear tight. Then she managed to smell their scent which caused her to reel back and cough. “By Omir’s might, just what did you get up to?” she asked as she tried not to gag.

Adam looked over to her and then back to Jurot. He raised his arm and sniffed at his armpit, or rather where his armpit would have been if it wasn’t covered by his shirt and his mail. He coughed as the stench entered through his nostrils and went through his entire body.

“Oh my god,” Adam gasped and then pulled back. “You weren’t kidding,” he coughed.

Jurot shrugged and then looked at the pair. “This is normal in our lands, to travel for days and cover ourselves in filth to scare away the Escara from us.”

HISTORY

D20 (5) + SMART (4) + TRAINED (2) = 11

FAILURE!

Adam had no idea what the Escara was or were, but he also didn’t want to ever meet them if it meant that he would have to smell like this often.

“We were in the sewers and fought some rats in them,” Adam informed the guard.

The guard nodded. She was a tall woman with broad shoulders, long red hair and tan skin that was not of the region. Yet she spoke just like Emma, and so he assumed she was native to this town and region at the very least.

“Alright well, you were done quick,” she said as she glanced between the pair and then noticed the sack.

“What’s in there?”

“The giant rats and a super rat.”

“A super rat?”

“It was a rat many times bigger than the other rats.”

“How much bigger?” she asked as she raised her eyebrow.

“About… a lot.” Adam then opened up the sack and lifted it up by the tail, revealing the huge size of it.

“That is a big one,” she said with a nod. “Hey Rob, you seeing that?”

“Ay, she’s a mighty big beauty ain’t she?” Rob laughed. He was a tall guard with red hair, but his skin was not quite as tan as the woman’s skin.

“Do we get paid more for the big ones?” Adam asked as politely as he could.

“Ay, at the guild? Certainly, certainly.” Rob nodded his head. “The guild is good about that sort of thing, they won’t do you wrong on it.”

Adam smiled. “Great! It was quite the hassle fighting it.”

“It also means you’ll have enough to pay the gate fee,” the woman smiled and then reached out a hand.

Adam laughed and returned the rat into the sack. “Do you want me to pay now what with all the smell and everything? Could we pay later tonight?”

RAPPORT

D20 (16) = 16

SUCCESS!

“I don’t want to go and bathe after I touch your coin. Alright, but if you don’t pay by dusk then it’ll be double, and if we have to send someone over it’ll be a silver.”

“Yes ma’am, I understand,” Adam replied with a nod of his head.

“When you come with your copper come to this gate and tell them Uzami said you could pay later and if they have an issue with it I’ll deal with it.”

“Thank you, Uzami,” Adam bowed his head. “It was a pleasure speaking with you both but I think we should stop stinking up the area.”

Uzami let the pair in, who quickly made their way to the guild, trying to keep out of the way with the various peoples who had given them a wide berth.

“Adam…” Jurot said and then glanced around.

“Jurot?” Adam asked.

“Nothing, we will speak later…”

Adam nodded and then the pair appeared at the guild.

“Uh… should we go in?” Adam asked.

“They told us not to.”

Adam reached over and pushed the guild doors to reveal themselves to the guild. Adam peeked over to see Emma look at him with a quizzical expression. Adam raised a hand over his nose and waved it as though trying to waft a smell away. Emma nodded with a thankful gaze in her eyes and then she called out for James, the little boy who darted to the desk. After a moment of chatting James darted towards them.

“Oh! Mister elf!” the boy said with his eyes gleaming.

“Hello young man, are you doing well?” Adam asked.

“I’m doing well, thank you. Emma told me you stink and I need to clean your armour.”

“Thank you,” Adam chuckled. “We would appreciate that.”

“Follow me!” the little boy said as he rushed off towards the area where Adam had been tested by Paul. “I’ll clean your armour here.” James was off again knocking on the door. He reminded Adam of a bouncy ball he used to toss about. Paul opened it and then glanced over at Adam and Jurot. He swiftly pulled back after a sniff and then nodded towards James, who slipped away.

“Drop your armour down behind the hay piles,” Paul said as he then crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

Adam nodded as he started to doff out of his armour, placing his helmet behind the hay bale.

Jurot stepped out his furs right away to reveal his muscular body which Adam hadn’t spied so keenly. He was a statue that had been carved from birth, a man who had only seen muscles in his entire life. Adam could tell Jurot had been trained from young in his village, out in the wilds. He had not a single speck of fat that did not need to be there, a trained killing machine. He wasn’t quite huge by any means, but he was definitely bigger than the average man, it was his leanness that Adam was more impressed with.

Jurot also had his pack, which needed to be cleaned, whereas Adam had left his own pack behind. He probably should have a pack that he can carry along with himself during adventures, but that was perhaps something for another time. He did have his Big Boned trait which would help with that.

Adam had stripped out of his armour and placed it down aside. He became acutely aware of the gazes from both Paul and Jurot. Their eyes seared through his body with their gaze, as if trying to find a long lost secret.

"What?" Adam said, suddenly feeling rather awkward as he glanced about the area and then himself. Did he perhaps have some dead rat on himself?

"You aren't what we expected," Paul said as Jurot confirmed it with a nod.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You don’t see elves with such large bodies,” Paul chuckled.

Jurot nodded and then stood next to Adam, his eyes dancing along the beastly muscles of the half-elf. He began to flex his own body and then raised his arm and flexed it in front of the half-elf. He looked up at Adam with an expectation. Adan slowly furrowed his brows in confusion but raised an arm and then flexed in front of Jurot and then the pair did what any men would do and compared their sizes. Jurot was thinner and leaner, and though his bicep and tricep were defined with much deeper lines, Adam was far bigger.

“Oh…” Adam whispered as he compared his muscles with the barbarians. He hadn’t expected to be bigger than Jurot, though he did recall that his Might score was rather high.

The pair continued to flex as James opened the door to the back of the guild and then looked out to Paul, ready to call out until his eyes caught the pair flexing in front of one another. His eyes fell to Jurot and then to Adam before his mouth opened like a fish and he made a face as though he had just bitten into a raw lemon, staring at Adam with such curious disgust he wasn’t sure what he should have done.

“But you’re a half-elf!” James finally declared in disbelief, his eyes wide with shock as though his entire world shattered before him.

“Right?” Adam said as he stopped flexing, turning beet red as he cleared his throat and then looked up to Paul with a quizzical look.

Paul shrugged and then nodded towards James. “I know,” he said to the boy, “I thought the same.”

“Is it really that weird that I’m so… muscular?” Adam felt rather awkward just saying it.

“Yes,” Paul and James said together.

Adam looked at Jurot who also nodded. The betrayal was too sharp for Adam, who frowned. This wasn’t the average experience of a half-elf then? He supposed that was a good thing.

“It is no bad thing,” Jurot said. “It is just different.”

“Well… maybe I’m not like other half-elves?” Adam regretted saying such a thing almost immediately as a cringe induced shudder rocked its way through his body. “I think we should head to the baths then?”

“What’s with the sacks? Did you put your giant rats in them?” Paul asked as he gently prod it with a foot.

“That’s right,” Adam nodded.

“Right… I’ll deal with that and your coin then,” Paul said with a nod. “You can bathe using some of our basins. No point heading to the baths over the way. I’ll see if we don’t have any robes for you, otherwise I’ll grab a sack or two for you to wear. We look after our own here.”

Adam nodded as he watched Paul leave with the sack through the back as James dragged a basin out, followed by another two. Then he rushed off back and brought back a bucket full of water to splash down into the basin and then left around once again, returning a little later to fill up the basin. Paul eventually returned and grabbed the pair of basins, taking them off aside. “Come along,” he said to the pair as they went around back to see a well and then a large pipe. Paul twisted the large spigot and water flooded out as James continued to drag along the bucket of water to fill the other basin.

“It’s cold water, but if you have a way to heat it, be my guest,” Paul winked at Adam.

Adam called upon a couple of Flame Missiles and soon his water was hot enough and he offered the same to Jurot who nodded and gave a quick thanks. Paul also brought over some clothes and some soap as they began to wash, taking their clothes to wash allowing them their underwear and dignity. Adam realised this was quite an erotic scene, two almost nude guys washing themselves. ‘Thank you Belle for not letting James watch,” Adam thought. Jurot seemed as though he wanted to say something, but kept whatever words secret to himself.

Soon they were done and clean, slipping into their boots and a set of robes Paul had brought back. Adam saw that James had washed the fur armour and had set it up to dry over some of the hay as he began to scrub into the chain, drying it off quickly soon after.

Adam cleared his throat towards Paul, “do I tip James some coin?”

“If you want,” Paul shrugged his shoulders.

“How much is a good tip?”

“A copper is fine.”

A copper seemed so little, but he also needed to give a copper to the guards later too. He checked how much coin he had and then looked to Paul. “How much coin did we earn from the quest?”

“Giant rat slaying? It was three silver per giant rat, another one for dismembering and half of what was butchered…” Paul nodded towards the sky as he did some mental calculation. “I think I said fifty-two silver pieces as well as two gold for the giant giant rat.”

Adam raised his brows in delight. “Whoa, that’s a fair amount. What is that, one gold and twenty six silver pieces per person?”

Paul nodded. “Splitting it in half?”

“No,” Jurot said. “You had slain the most, we should split it that way.”

Adam turned to face Jurot who had crossed his arms, firm in both body and his words.

“There are two of us. We both did quite a bit of work, we split it in half.”

“You had slain more,” Jurot replied, still so resolute in his words.

“I know, but your keen senses allowed me to prepare as well as I could.”

“You had bought the bread.”

“You had managed to get the super rat off me.”

Jurot paused as he tried to think of a come back, but his thoughts were at their limit. Jurot was definitely the kind who preferred action over words. He grit his teeth. Adam raised a hand and placed it on the barbarian’s shoulder, bringing him back to his senses.

“Jurot, I would like for us to split it in half. There may be times in the future where my mind is needed more than your axe, but I hope we will split the rewards in half then, and there may be a time when your axe is needed more than my mind, and I hope we will split the rewards in half then too. It is a matter of respect, we both went in to pull our weight.”

Jurot stared at Adam and then bowed his head. “You are a good man, Adam.”

“Half a man,” Adam joked as they shook hands.

Paul laughed. “You just want the math to remain simple,” he said, accusing Adam.

“That’s just a bonus.” Adam grinned wide. “I’ll tip James a silver for helping m-” Adam stopped. “Do I have to take half the material, or can I sell it to the guild?” he quickly asked, not wanting to take home any of the rat materials or the meat. He wasn’t that desperate.

“You can sell it off to one of the various crafters in town, they will give you a better deal.”

Adam looked over to James who was scrubbing his gear. He wore fairly decent wear; a shirt, a pair of shorts, some heavy boots.

“Could you…” Adam looked over to Jurot and then back to the fur armour. “Could I just sell the stuff to the guild and then you can just use it as you please?”

“Rat meat, huh?” Paul rubbed his chin, feeling the short beard that was across his face. “It’s been a while since Margh has made a meaty stew. I’ll see how much we can offer. It won’t be as good as the price from a crafter or another inn.”

“That’s fine by me, it just makes it easier.” Adam shrugged.

“You would sell off the meat?” Jurot asked surprised. “Rat jerky is delicious!”

“Well you can have my portion of the rat meat then,” Adam said. “I’ll just sell off the skins.”

Jurot grinned wide. “I will show you the great delight that comes from the jerky.”

“I’m alright,” Adam replied with a wince at the thought of eating rat jerky, “but thanks.”

Jurot slapped the half-elf’s back and then grinned wide. “Don’t worry!”

Adam winced at the way he said such a thing. Now he was worried.

“I’ll give you the super rat if you don’t…” Adam managed to groan out meekly.

The pair made their way into the guild in their robes and boots, though Adam would have preferred to remain outside until their clothes had dried as he was too embarrassed in the current outfit, but Jurot’s contagious flow had carried him along like a fish in a river.

When he stepped into the guild he could feel the gazes over his body. He wondered if this was how women typically felt when they walked around on their daily business. He made a note in mind to grab many different sets of clothes that would hide his physique. Even Emma’s eyes went wide when she saw him and Adam turned an even deeper crimson.

“By Omir’s might! What is that?!” an already slightly tipsy adventurer exclaimed, pointing to Adam. It was a large, bulky warrior type with heavy armour and an even heavier blade. The other adventurers did a double take when they saw Adam.

“Huh, who would have thought,” one said.

“Look at that! Must be the human blood!” another exclaimed.

With each shout Adam turned more like a tomato than a fey being.

“Oi, elf-boi, Adam was it? Why don’t you join our group?” Peron called out as he finished his ale.

“Hold on now, I saw him first!” the bulky warrior stood and pointed to Peron. “Sit down!”

“I am sitting you drunk bastard, who the fuck are you to tell me what I can or can’t do?!” Peron stood up and then rolled his shoulders, ready to brawl. “I saw him first, I spoke to him yesterday!”

It was then that Paul opened up the door and peered his head in. “I’m sure I didn’t hear anyone cursing in the guild,” he said with the tone of a father who was giving his children a chance to settle down.

“Sack it, Paul, this isn’t your guild!” the tipsy brawler called out.

Peron looked to Paul, then to Adam, then back to Paul before he shrugged and sat down. He had, quite intelligently, disengaged himself from the situation as he sipped on his mug of ale. Adam sat down as far away from the confrontation as he could.

Paul stared at the brawler with his brows raised. He undid the belt of his sword that was strapped to his side and gently placed it down beside the counter where Emma stood. His steps were louder than anything else in the guild, encroaching on the large brawler.

“Why don’t we take this outside, Bobby,” Paul said with a voice that was calm, the same sort of calm before a storm. Even Adam could smell the butt-kicking from where he was seated.

Bobby the brawler had very quickly realised he had made a great mistake. “Oh, uh, no I didn’t mean it like that…”

Paul walked over and wrapped an arm around the heavily armoured man’s shoulders and then motioned with a hand. “It’s alright, we’re just going to have a little chat outside that’s all.” Paul squeezed Bobby’s shoulder and Bobby’s face grew pale.

“A-alright…” Bobby whispered.

Then the pair left. Adam looked over to Emma who was rubbing her forehead. Adam leaned in to Jurot. “Is Bobby getting his ass kicked by Paul?”

Jurot looked to Adam. “The vice-master of a guild isn’t allowed to do that sort of thing.”

“Yeah but… he totally is right?”

Jurot gave a quick nod of the head before the doors to the guild opened and a young human man with short brown hair, pale skin, and wearing an outfit of nearly entirely red marched in. He paused at the entrance, leaned back and peered at the archery area to his right for a few moments before he continued his approach towards the counter.

“What did Bobby do?” he asked as he marched in, throwing a look to everyone and nodding before seeing Adam. “By Omir, aren’t you a big elf boy, huh?”

Adam sighed and then nodded his head, trying to hide behind his hands. Luckily for him Peron took the heat off him.

“Bobby started a fight with me and then Paul came in,” Peron said.

“He didn’t stop?” the stranger asked as he walked around the counter, Emma and he kissing one another’s cheek as she then made her way around to the back.

Peron shook his head. “No, he didn’t.”

“Well damn, I guess he isn’t going to quest tomorrow.” The stranger peered through something within the counter for a few moments. Then he looked up to Adam with a peculiar look. “Adam?”

Adam nodded his head.

“Would you mind?” the stranger motioned with his head and so Adam made his way over to him. “The name’s George, I usually take the afternoon shift. Emma does mornings, I do afternoons, and then we have Fotti take nights.”

Fotti, what a name. It wasn’t like Emma and George, Adam wondered if perhaps that they were not human.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Adam said as he shook the man’s hand. He seemed to be about Adam’s age. “Adam.”

“It looks like we owe you one gold and forty-two silver pieces, and it says here,” George glanced about the way and then he cleared his throat, “nevermind. We can talk about that later.”

“Uh, right. The forty-two silver, that’s with me selling off the meat and the pelts and stuff?”

“Right, right. Would you like that as five gold and two silver pieces?”

“Four gold and eleven silver and ten copper? Is that alright?”

George nodded and then continued to glance around the guild, before looking back at Adam. “You killed off- hey Jurot, come here please,” George motioned with his head before continuing, “the pair of you killed off thirteen giant rats and a giant giant rat?”

“Yes…” Adam nodded, wondering if the super rat was actually called a giant giant rat.

“Just the two of you?”

“That’s right.”

“Really?”

“Yeah?”

“Well damn, good job.” George gave an approving nod and a smile. “Is it because of your muscles?”

Adam smiled and then tapped his head. “My mind.”

George laughed. “If you had a mind you wouldn’t be an adventurer.”

“Yes?” Jurot asked as he finally appeared.

“So the pair of you killed those fourteen rats by yourselves, that right?”

Jurot nodded.

“Alright, I’ll ask Paul to stamp your tokens three times then. One for slaying so many rats, one for slaying one of the bigger rats, and one for doing it with only the two of you.”

Adam raised his brows. He had ten stamps already if that was the case and it was only his second day here. He was half way to iron rank, so if he kept up this pace he would be iron by the end of the week. He wondered how many quests the others went through.

Paul eventually returned through the front seemingly satisfied with whatever he did. He saw the pair at the front desk so moseyed on over.

“How many?” Paul asked.

“Three?”

“Sound about right,” Paul nodded and then threw a look at the tokens. “Half way there, good luck lads.”

“Thanks,” Adam smiled.

“We will be iron soon,” Jurot flexed his pecs through his robes as he crossed his arms, as always he was resolute in his words.

“Your clothes are in the back drying off. Your armour should be done by James soon, though the fur will need a while to dry off.”

George had punched through the stamps and then counted out the coins for Adam and Jurot.

CURRENCY

28 Gold

19 Silver

15 Copper

QUEST COMPLETE

Rat Slaying

STAMPS GAINED

3

EXP GAINED

QUEST (25) + DIFFICULTY BONUS (25) + OTHERWORLDER BONUS (50) = 100

EXP TOTAL

PREVIOUS TOTAL (350) + NEWLY GAINED EXP (100) = 450

CURRENT EXP

450