Monster dispatched, spells expended, hours to go before we rest. Although the mage gives me a strange look, precious little conversation occurs before we set back out, resuming our westward track. I’m starting to worry a little bit that my village will be harder to find and return to than I’d been expecting. It's a pity that Lizardfolk aren’t big on maps. Or books. Or… Well, anything that relates to knowledge, really. A credit that they teach how to speak, read, and write in both Common and Draconic, and they do provide enough foundational training to easily assume the Lizardfolk Warrior class, but they’re severely lacking in almost every other front when it comes to providing a conventional formal education.

The remainder of the days travel passes without any further unavoidable fights, and we once again pause for a dinner comprised primarily of burnt nightmare kitty. We do not have any salt and we weren’t willing to take the time to smoke the meat, so we did the next best thing and took several large chunks of meat and burned the crap out of their exterior. That meat is not going to be good for long, but by cutting off the charred exterior we can then cook the comparatively fresh interior to make for an adequate meal. I’ll be surprised if we can get more than 3 days’ worth of food out of them at the most, and honestly the humans might end up sick by trying to make it last that long; but I’d prefer to try milking the kitty meat over eating more fish, despite the fish being fresh. I really have eaten far too much swamp, I mean sea food, over the last decade. Maybe in 20 years without it I’ll start craving fish again.

Meal devoured, we take the same watch schedule as the last 2 rest attempts, and settle down for an event free night. The next morning we finally exit the swamp and find ourselves in a relatively open stretch of land. It’s still wet and damp and flat, but a determined builder might be able to set up a castle without it sinking.

“Well, we’re here.” I say nodding to the Mage, “What now?”

“In earnest,” he replied, “I'd felt dubiety apropos your willingness to emancipate us. Even now I retain qualms, though I'll not deny that I'm becoming increasingly sanguine. Is there truly no lizardfolk regiment concealed betwixt the forestry?”

One thing I've noticed about the mage and which I've always found amusing, is that you can almost always tell his level of stress by the vocabulary he employs. Whether distress or eustress, the more excited he becomes, the more he inclined he is to descend into magniloquence. He's pretty excitable right now, because when he's calm he's a good deal better grounded.

“As far as I’m aware I’m the only lizardfolk within a few hours of here. Patrols are a thing, so I can't say there's absolutely no chance of it, but there’s more risk than benefit behind leaving the swamp, so as a general rule patrols shouldn't come out this far. You’re free to leave if that’s what you want. Same for you Joaqim,” I continue, “You’re sentient creatures, and as I stated when we first left the village, it’s not reasonable to expect you to abide by an agreement made under duress.”

“My name is James, but I go by Jim. Red Wizard, level 3, and I hail from Anival” says the mage as his relaxes slightly and his hand extends, while Joaqim standing off to the side, affects a slight grin of his own.

I clasp his arm and reply, “So you’re a combat mage? Didn't you tell me that Wizard was a term reserved for more powerful of casters? I guess that's kind of a good thing for my ego, I can feel a little bit better about my performance relative to yours in our battles now. You’ve been doing all of the heavy lifting, and I sincerely appreciate that. Thank you, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you properly, Jim.”

“Comprehensive use of the term Wizard is contextual. For a person to be a Wizard they needs be level 10 or higher, but when describing a type of mage, many are wizards owing to the formal title bestowed by their educational institution, with different institutions provisioning a multitude of specific addresses as determined by their practical traditions. You never actually told us your name, either, or at least not me. What do you go by?”

“Huh. Well that makes sense, it's no different from everyone who gets a PhD technically being a doctor while common parlance only recognizes medical doctorates by that title. As for my name, it's not a secret, I'm just surprised you hadn't heard it from someone else in the village since it has been a couple years… Though come to think of it, they didn't talk to you much, did they? I'm sorry for that, they really don't know what to do with captives, mostly they just kill and eat their enemies. I had to beg a lot of favors to get them to take you two as hostages rather than kill you since I wanted people who could help train me. My name is Braza, I'm an Architect, Level 1. You’ve been to my homeland, such as it is.”

“What's this about doctors? Wait, Architect? What in the pit of despair? You’re a builder?! If the lizardfolk have people who can design their buildings properly, why in the world did everyone in your village live in a hut?!”

“Well, that’s a bit complicated, and I’m not entirely sure how to properly answer you. I’m not completely sure how my class works, so I’m trying to figure it out as I go. That’s one of the reasons I’m wanting to level up a few times is so that I can learn more about it and maybe get better at making things. As far as the quality of buildings though, I can at least say that the shortage of stone certainly isn’t helping with that,” I say with a chuckle.

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Jim, as grave as if he were attending a funeral, leans in and says, “I’m going to be as plain and honest as I know how to be Braza, if you’re supposed to be constructing buildings, you’d be better off building them, not running around fighting like you've suddenly become interested in doing. Noncombat classes are very poorly suited to development through combat, mostly the people that try anyhow just die. Get a proper class, or level up through your job. The difference in skill you'll see from a level or two will make precious little difference to your building quality, doubly so given your starting point. For you quantity would be better than quality, and you'd be far more likely to survive.”

“Noncombat classes? Sorry, I guess it doesn't matter, that's just the first time you've said anything about noncombat classes being a thing, I thought every class was supposed to be a combat class. As for the rest of your points, I understand, but my class isn’t really about designing buildings in particular, it’s about making things. If I level up a few times, I should be able to make significantly better things.”

“I think you’re behaving foolishly, but I begin to realize that I can’t talk you out of this. Still, I did try. Since you say I’m free to go, I intend to do so. Before I leave, I’d like a few minutes to chat with Joaqim in private if that’s ok.”

“Certainly” I reply, before walking about 30 meters away. From that distance if they scream or shout I’ll definitely hear them, but they can be confident that they won’t be overheard. On earth that would be an unreasonable distance to move away, but not here. Here, perception is a skill and magical senses abound; even from this distance there are people who could hear their conversation as though they were standing next to them. Those aren't real concerns at our level, but I suspect the knowledge that people with such acute senses exist is alone sufficient justification to explain this and many other subtle changes to social mores the world over.

After about 10 minutes, the two approach, and Joaqim leads the conversation.

“So,” he says, “Where do you plan to go from here?”

“Honestly I have no idea. The only geography I’m more than passingly familiar with is directly around the village, with a bit of supplemental information courtesy of the map sketches I’ve had the two of you make for me. My general plan is straight forward though. I’m going to try and gain a level or two, and then try and find some ruins or crypts or something to ransack and hopefully start getting both levels and money. It’ll be a bit risky, but if you were planning on worrying about me there’s no need, when I'm on my own I tend to double down on the caution front, and as long as I stay in the swamp for that first level or two I should be as safe as anyone can be courtesy of my physique and its associated swimming ability.”

“That’s about what I thought. Let me ask then, you want to come to Diamond Lake with us?”

“Diamond lake is a human settlement. I’d rather not get killed by an enthusiastic guard or a family member with a grudge. As territorial as my tribe is, I can’t imagine that they’ve made a good impression on their neighbors.”

“No doubt you’re right," Jim interjects, "a random lizardman caught snooping around would certainly be dispensed with in short order. But an adventurer? Adventuring groups have a long and august history of doing the unthinkable.”

"Exactly," Joaqim chimes in without missing a beat, "A troop of lizardfolk approaching? That's bad. But an adventurer? That’s a horse of a different color, adventurers are always weird."

“Why are you telling me this? The two of you are leaving. Even if I'm not killed off the second I come within sight of the walls, I can't imagine that getting dropped off in the middle of a human settlement before being left to my own devices will end well.”

“Well, like Jim said, adventurers do weird stuff, and they've been like that for as long as they've existed. That's a long history of doing the unthinkable, adventurers are part and parcel for humanity. I’m not planning on leaving the area right away. I may be from Hartsford, but there’s not much of anything that'd make we wanna return there. I came out here to seek adventure. Spending a few years as a slave probably shoulda taught me better, but I reckon I'll just do the same thing a second time. Get together a couple idiots, do some unimaginably stupid things. Locate and raid tombs and ruins and whatnot. Try and strike it big. Mayhap I'll even earn Narub a few more followers. If you walk in with us, that’s exactly what they’ll think you are, an adventurer, just like me. And why not? If everyone already thinks it, and you're already lookin to do it, might as well, right?”

“So to be certain, you’re saying you want to start an adventuring party, and you want me to be in it? I’m interested, I’m just not certain why you’d want me to join you. I’m pretty close to useless compared to a professional anything.”

At this point, Jim chimes in.

“I tried to talk you out of chasing danger because of your class, not your ability. Your class is a terrible pick for what you're describing, and you should reconsider your selection at the earliest possible junction if you insist on courting death. But to criticize your class as useless is a very different thing from saying that YOU are useless. You do your job, you’re fast on your feet, you aren’t fearful of the enemies we've encountered, and you thoroughly exploit the environment to your advantage. Your close combat capabilities are dross, but when we sealed our initial agreement your side of the deal included being our shield. Even with your yúchǔn de class, when those faceless dogs attacked, you rushed to interpose yourself between us. When the skeleton wolf attacked, had you not been present to serve as a decoy we might've been hard pressed, we may have even landed ourselves in the pits before we had a chance to cast properly, yet you once again interceded to lead it on a merry little chase allowing us ample time and opportunity to give it a proper sendoff. We didn't even have to explain our conundrum for you to identify the particulars of the problem and turn a minacious situation to an advantageous one. That's what you've done with ridiculously low tier armor, no shield, and your best weapon is a sling of all things. The preponderance of people with such poor circumstance would have been nugatory, but not you, you’re contributing every bit as much to each of these fights as I have been, you’re merely approaching things in a nonlinear fashion. In a 4 person team I'd dismiss your ability as comparatively trifling, the superiority of the standard role mix is indubitable, the supremacy of the appropriate role mix maintains an eminent and venerable history to draw upon, with claims innumerable buttressing that aforementioned superiority. But in a 5 man team, I should think your perceptive and indefatigable nature would prove most valuable."

“Wow,” I say. “I appreciate that. If you truly believe I’ll be safe entering with you, and if you honestly believe that it won't be too great of a burden to bear, then I’ll gladly go to Diamond lake with you. Jim, are you also planning to be a part of Joaqims team?”

"It wouldn't be my first pick, no."