Chapter 5: Stew and Hirelings

It was getting late in the afternoon.

Ricky had followed the smiths’ directions, and now found himself outside a noisy tavern, just a stone’s throw from the gates of Barrowdale.

As he paused, he saw a health update, which presumably reflected ongoing healing over time:

*Healing report: You have gained 1 hit points (11 remain).

Hmm.

Ricky knew he was still seven hit points down, and might need to take another dose of that healing tea if he was going to risk entering the goblin caves.

All the same, his armor and shield left him feeling considerably more confident as he stood at the threshold of the rowdy establishment. And perhaps – he hoped – looking more like a real adventurer, too.

He walked in. The place was composed of three main areas, each separated by a double archway. There were a great many people at large oaken tables, most of whom looked like locals, with many seeming to be inebriated, and notably unconcerned by the recent attacks. A large tankard was in almost every hand.

Ricky walked past the bar, scanning from table to table. He was sure there must be someone in here who would be up for a quest against the vile goblins. As he went, he noticed that unlike the townsfolk he had seen so far, some of these individuals were definitely not human. One person had short horns emerging from the side of his face, and bluish skin. Those must be the demonkind that he had been offered as a playable species. Others had long ears – elves? What was clear was that unlike the goblins, all of these were lawful folk, accepted among the community as a whole.

As he looked around, he paused by a side wall. Hey Guide, he said. Is there some way that I can tell whether someone is for hire?

“You could try asking them,” said the Guide’s voice.

He rolled his eyes.

One other thing. Can I spend more XP on hit points yet?

“Your new hit points will be automatically allocated when you reach a threshold of five hundred,” she replied. “You will see a notification to that effect. You currently have 135 XP. When the total reaches 500XP, you will be provided with your extra five hit points, as well as a choice of attributes to increase. I’ll help you with that process.”

Okay.

It occurred to Ricky that it would be well worth gaining XP as fast as possible to increase his strength and nimbleness, as those would surely be hugely valuable in the long run – this seemed to be a game where fighting was a daily event. On the other hand, speed might be vital for more immediate survival. Perhaps it was a mistake to have allocated so little to that stat.

As he pondered over this issue, Ricky’s eyes alighted on a slim female elf with medium brown skin and pale gray hair. She was sitting alone at a nearby table, with a longbow propped up against the nearby wall.

A warrior of sorts, then. She had muscular bare arms, and was almost as tall as he was.

He sidled over, suddenly feeling awkward at having to approach a stranger. He decided to be direct.

“I am looking to hire someone for a quest,” he said.

She looked up. Her eyes were a very vivid green, and her long grey hair was pleated into an elaborate style that kept it all out of her face; she looked no older than twenty despite the hair color. Ricky could now see that she was wearing tough-looking leather armor that revealed her neck and the tops of her shoulders, and a pair of neat dark-green leggings. “What kind of quest?” she asked, gesturing towards one of the empty seats.

Ricky sat down. It had already occurred to him that he was due twenty XP from the quest if he managed to pull this off, and this woman looked ideal at first glance. An archer... and weren’t elves supposed to be stealthy? She was absolutely perfect – and not bad to look at, either.

“I’m Ricky Treecutter,” he said, “and I have just witnessed a local girl being dragged off by goblins who attacked the town. I promised their parents that I would help. I don’t know how much you would charge as a mercenary...?”

“Say no more, Ricky,” she said, holding up her hand. “I’ll take the job. Always a pleasure to slay a few goblins. But I warn you – I’m good, and arrows are not cheap. I’ll charge ten gold for this mission, with an even split of any coin and loot that we obtain.”

“Uh... I don’t have that much with me,” he said, rapidly trying to mentally reckon what his silver and gold would convert to. Not enough – he was fairly sure of that. “But if you would take a down payment, I will gladly pay the rest of your fee as soon as I can. There is no time to waste, as I have heard that they eat their captives.”

“I see,” she said, frowning.

“Here are two gold, if you could take the rest on a promise...?” he added, taking two of his remaining gold coins from the belt pouch, and sliding them across the table towards her.

She picked them up and clenched them in her fist. “All right. Agreed.”

*Achievement: A noble heart! You have impressed an NPC with your moral decency.

*Buff: All social transactions will be more advantageous in future with the NPC _Channia_.

*Quest 006 complete: Hire an NPC at the local inn. +20XP

***

Wealth update

Gold: 1

Silver: 15

Copper: 11

***

“You know,” she added, reaching over for her bow, “I’m feeling generous today. Those goblins really have been a menace. I’ll drop my fee to six, so you only owe me four. And I’ll take only my own even share of coins out of the loot. Any items that we find are yours if you want them.”

Ricky nodded, smiling. “Thank you – that is greatly appreciated. Now tell me, what is your name?”

“I am called Channia. Now, what are you having to eat? You’ll want to fill up before we go to track down those goblins.”

“But Channia,” he replied, frowning. “As I said, the young woman Sami was taken away in bonds some half an hour ago. The longer we leave it, the more likely the goblins will do her harm. I don’t want to give them a head start.”

*Daily event: You are feeling hungry. If you don’t eat, you will start to get disadvantages to your attributes.

He was, too. Not a painful or aggressive hunger, but the kind of dull ache that he would feel in real life when he had been walking all day without a meal.

Just then, a barkeep with an apron approached – a powerful looking black-skinned man with incredibly muscular forearms. He walked over to their table holding a wooden bowl containing steaming stew.

“On second thoughts,” said Channia, looking at the man, “I’ll take that with me.”

“What’s that now?” the barkeep replied.

She stood, picked up her bow, and peered at him. “Divide the stew into two mugs, and we’ll take them with us.” As she spoke, she threw a couple of silver coins down onto the table. He nodded and swept them up, and soon returned with two metal tankards, each containing stew and a spoon. “I’ll need these mugs back, mind,” he said, as he set the tankards down.

“You can count on it,” said Channia.

***

New item

Item: silver tankard

Class: household

Capacity: 1 pint

Value: 4gp

Resilience: 15

Description: a beer mug made of solid silver, but which is almost indistinguishable from the iron or bronze ones that are found in taverns throughout the imperial west. This particular item was one of six found among the hoard of a flightless dragon slain by a boneface warrior of the Battleaxe Guild, and which were then used as payment for a bed for the night as the warrior rode arrived in Barrowdale.

***

“Man... these tankards are worth four gold each,” said Ricky. “That’s more than a night in the best room in this place, I would imagine.”

Channia shouldered her bow, picked up her tankard, and looked at him. “Four gold? Perhaps we should just keep the tankards and skip town. I've heard that Imperialis is nice at this time of year.” She chortled to herself, and then began to lead the way out of the tavern.

“Only kidding, by the way,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m no thief.“

Soon, Ricky and Channia were walking out from the town gates and heading along the straight bare-earth track that led from the gatehouse, past some corn fields, and towards hills in the distance. Whether due to time passing or the rejuvenating effects of the stew that they had been eating as they walked, Ricky had seen two further notifications suggesting that he was now nearly healed:

*Healing report: You have gained 1 hit points (12 remain).

*Healing report: You have gained 1 hit points (13 remain).

“Are you local to Barrowdale, Channia?” asked Ricky.

She paused, crouching and looking at some marks in the dirt in front of her. “Goblins left the track here,” she muttered, and then stood up and looked at him directly, green eyes glittering, eyebrows raised. “From that town? Surely you are joking!” She chortled to herself again, then vaulted the low fence and began to make her way through the nearest corn field.

“Wait,” said Ricky, hurrying after her. He likewise crossed the fence, though much less elegantly. “I have a map in my pocket. The goblins have a base in the Lambskull Hills.”

She paused again, glancing around. “That makes sense. It’s a dangerous place, though, and the day is getting later. But I think it makes sense to stay on their trail. We can’t assume that they took the girl directly back to their lair.”

“Okay. So you can track them?”

She glittered at him again. “I was assuming that’s why you hired me. Yes – I am a huntress and a tracker. I am good with the bow, and I can follow these goblins no matter which way they go.”

“Wanna tell me how?”

She paused, looking one direction and then another. “The signs depend on what you are tracking.”

“I see. Can you teach me a few things that I can look for?”

“To an extent. When we see something, I’ll point it out.”

*Quest 007 (level 1): Improve your tracking skills.

She began walking again, and he moved alongside her as she went. “What can you see that signifies goblins, specifically?”

“Goblins are light on their feet,” she replied, “which can make them hard to track, but they are destructive, and frequently leave damaged plants or even the corpses of small animals killed for sport. It’s all evidence. Of course, if they are dragging prisoners there will likely be footprints and churned up areas of a path. Goblins are too lazy to cover such marks.”

“Makes sense. What other things do you look for when tracking?”

“Like I said, it depends. When hunting deer or boar back home, it’s mainly impressions of their hooves in soft ground, but an understanding of the mind of those beasts is important too, and knowing their habits. It’s partly similar with predators and monsters, but the smarter they are, the harder it gets. And shapeshifters are the worst of all.”

“How so?”

“Well... You could see the paws of a wolf, but you could actually be dealing with the brain and habits of a human. You know?”

“Right. It sounds hard.”

“Yes. But that’s a worry for another time. Perhaps you can learn a few things before too long.”

“If I can. But most of all I want to hurry and catch up with these vile monsters.“

She nodded, and began to run on.

Accumulated XP: 155