I sat watching the fire crackle as the early morning sun warmed the forest floor. Fish roasted over the fire slowly being turned by Orion as he seared them to perfection. It had been nearly a week since we’d made camp. In that time we’d been able to successfully clear the area or low lying foliage and we’d even been able to fell a few small trees. Orion and I had been able to cut and stack wood for future fires while Shiza improved the fence around the camp. Because of our efforts, our camp was starting to look much more defensible and homely.

Attacks had lessened since better defenses had been constructed and in the last seven days we’d only had to kill six tardogs. More and more we were starting to see small blobs of black mass wandering the forest. These tarslimes were very weak and usually died in one hit, we’d killed at least four of them after first spotting them.

After defeating the latest tardog, Orion notified both Shiza and I that he’d leveled up to four. After a slight boost in happiness he returned to his somber state. The past week had been strenuous between us. His coming to terms with my role in his village’s destruction hadn’t run its course yet and from the way his body language changed around me and the way his mood shifted when I tried to talk to him, I could tell he was still trying to think through our friendship. At the very least he was trying, which was good.

I’d prepared myself for the worst possible situation when returning to the camp that day. I was prepared to come back to see his things packed up and gone. To my relief I found him sitting next to the fire cooking fresh fish that he’d acquired from the nearby stream.

To my right sat Shiza. She hadn’t leveled up quite yet but she’d been an asset during and after the attacks. Her healing magic made it so that we didn't have to rely on the healing moss that we’d been collecting. Speaking of which, we had determined that we would be able to make a small fortune when we were able to head back to town with what we’d collected.

The forest’s productivity had exploded in the past week and we’d been able to collect ridiculous amounts of healing moss. Shiza drooled over our stockpile nearly everyday as she added up the fortune she would make after the profits were split. In total our stash was worth nearly 450 gold, an insane amount of money for any merchant to make in a single haul. For this reason we kept the moss hidden within our magic pouches, out of sight from any potential passerby.

After defeating one of the tarslimes Argu had glowed bright blue and expanded in size slightly, new scales growing between old ones to cover up the extra surface area. He looked surprised at his sudden transformation but was soon jumping up and down while circling the camp. After some debate between the party it was concluded that the little drake must have leveled up. Hilarity ensued as he still insisted on laying across Shiza’s shoulders and the little Musteve was forced to get used to the extra weight.

All in all, the past week had gone by very smoothly, that was until we got our first visitor. Orion spotted the figure approaching our makeshift fence gate first. A small figure with a thin striped tail stood at the edge of our perimeter waving at us, “Hey! May I enter your camp?”

Glances were exchanged around the fire. I looked down at my fish, rapidly cooling on a makeshift wooden plate, if this guy made trouble I would have to eat this cold. I saw Shiza motioning to Argu to hide in the tents we had set up. I sighed and signaled for him to enter.

The man opened the fence gate and closed it behind him. He was one of those cat-like beastmen I’d seen earlier, about as small as Shiza but thinner and seemingly more agile. His small frame was offset by the large proportions of his ears, the two of which were roughly the size of his entire head. He sat down by the fire next to Orion and started taking food out of the satchel at his side, “Ooooh this is nice! I haven’t sat by a fire in days! Traveling through these woods has been so tough since Fenroot was attacked.” He looked around hoping for a response and when he didn’t get one he continued anyway, “They’ve got that whole road through the territory locked down due to those monsters. What are you people doing out here in a place like this?”

He’d started munching on what seemed like a salted piece of meat as he waited for a response. Orion tore his attention away from his fish to answer him, “We’re out here with the Warrior’s guild clearing out some of the lesser monsters. What brings a Katon through these woods?”

The spry creature’s ears perked up, “I’m glad you asked my good sir! You see, I am a member of the Merchant’s guild and I just finished a delivery quest to a town on the other side of this forest. To take the road around would’ve added significant time to my journey and so I chose to cut through the forest. Not my best idea however as it seems I’ve gotten a bit lost.” The Katon pulled out a silver Merchant’s medallion and showed it to us, “If you could point me in the direction of Valenta I’d happily compensate you for the directions?”

As Orion was about to speak I stuck my hand out to stop him, a plan had begun to form in my mind, “What kind of compensation are you proposing?”

The mood around the campfire had shifted with my answer. The Katon shifted in his seat as he finished the last bite of his meat, “I would be willing to give each of you a silver coin for that information.”

My head tilted slightly as I finished my fish and looked at the beastman in front of me, “That seems pretty low doesn’t it? Surely, those directions are a little more valuable to someone who just ate his last ration of food?”

The Katon seemed visibly shocked by my assumption. I’d been able to smell the meat as soon as he sat down, after a quick glance toward his satchel I could tell that he had none left. Being a silver ranked member of the Merchant’s guild however, ment he knew how to negotiate and was trying to get the best deal he could from us. I saw him visibly swallow as a smile appeared on his face, “Hey, you caught me, I don't have any more food on me. I’ve been wandering through this forest for so long that it seems like I’ve run out. You’re right how about five silver coins for each of you for those directions?”

Five was a bit steep, he’d given up the act of negotiation and now just came off desperate. I might be able to leverage this desperation to our advantage, “No, I don’t think five silver each is going to do it.”

Even through his thick black and gold coat I could see the blood drain from his face, “Please, I’m begging you!” He was down on his knees now, “I’ve been trapped in here for so long, I’ve been attacked by monsters, chased by wolves, and circled by scavengers waiting for me to die! When I saw your camp I thought I might have a glimmer of hope. Please don’t do this, I’ll give you everything on me right now if you’ll just give me directions to Valenta, it’ll save you the trouble of finding and picking everything off my corpse!”

The Katon was literally grovelling trying to save his own life, all semblance of negotiation had been cast aside. I sighed, “Fine I’ll give you directions but only under four conditions.” The Beastman’s ears perked up and the tears streaming down his face temporarily ceased, “First, you’re to buy as many of our wares as you can for the best price you can while still making a profit. Second, you are to return to our camp immediately after you’ve sold what we’ve provided you to come get more. Third, you are not to accept any contracts from the guild until we’ve deemed your debt to us repaid. And finally, you are never to tell anyone about this camp.”

His head nodded vigorously as the tears started to flow again. He assured us that he agreed to all of our terms and asked what we had to offer. His eyes went wide when I pulled out eight gold worth of healing moss. He quickly looked over them to ensure they were the real deal before shuffling through his satchel. Producing a handful of coins he quickly pressed the eight gold into my hand and took the moss, “It’s all I have on me. I’ll be able to make about two gold profit on these. It's the absolute highest I can go. You want me to come here and exclusively trade your materials to town?” I nodded and he nearly tipped over backwards, “Do you have any idea how great of a deal this is for me!? Of course I accept your terms! There’s no way in hell I’ll ever speak of this deal to anyone, I’d be shooting myself in the foot with the sharpest arrow I could find!”

“Good I expect you to profit greatly from this arrangement too.” I said with a smile, “We’ll both make a lot of money if you keep to your end of the deal.”

He nodded vigorously and reached out his hand, “I swear I’ll uphold your rules. Name’s Garth by the way, I can feel that it’s going to be a pleasure doing business with you.”

I shook his hand, “Likewise Garth, you can call me Alyx. The Ferrin over there is Orion and the Musteve’s name is Shiza. It’ll be a pleasure doing business with you.”

After talking for a bit, Orion cooked the Katon some fish over the fire and sent him off in the direction of the city. In lieu of trying to split two gold coins amongst three people, it was decided that the gold would be split four ways. Two gold would go toward a camp fund, which would be used to buy materials for strengthening or improving the camp. A message had also popped up at the top of my vision that read “Skill Acquired” and looking at my stats I found that I’d acquired the Bartering G skill.

It was midday before the Katon left the camp and watching him leave I reflected on the situation. It was going to be nice to have this merchant in our back pocket. Now we could continue to function and bring in revenue without having to take the time to do the legwork. Resupplying our camp just became significantly easier and we’d established a means of connecting back to civilization.

With funds set aside to improve the camp, perhaps we could start making this area a bit more hospitable.

Tarslime (Level 1)

0/100 Experience

10/10 Health ----

20/20 Stamina ------

30/30 Mana --

110/110 Spirit ---

‘0’ Stat Points Available

Racial Ability - Elemental Spirit

Skills: Elemental Projectile