20 Astra 10,391

There was half a day more of sailing before the docks of Olisrosa showed along the edge of the river and Six was now at Sailing - 5, Heavy Armor - 4, and Polearms - 3.

"We've arrived!" said Captain Copperback.

"Whooweee! Finally!" Six was excited to see the first city in this new world. He stood at the prow and looked down river as they crossed a bend to reveal the city.

The city of Olisrosa was everything Six had imagined about a medieval city. A series of docks hugged the river allowing a flow of people and goods into and out of the high, grey rock, walled city. A mixture of folks were passing back and forth, Six could see a human majority doing business and guarding the gate that served the docks. Dwarves, Aelfs, Muldstanii, and ho- halflings were mixed in the crowd, Six even saw the odd lizardfolk and what appeared to be a rabbitman.

Wow. How cool was that.

Six spotted a train of chained humanoids, an even mixture of peoples comprised it. They all wore beige leather vests and woven shorts, their uniformity of dress demarcating them from the free people around them. They pulled carts and loaded goods according to the merchants and dockmasters around them.

Not so cool. Very sad in fact.

Copperback moored the RiverDancer to a smaller dock and everyone began to unload cargo. Six went to help but Amos waved him off. "Don't worry about it man, you paid your passage. Are you staying long?"

Six shrugged, he was ok with being let off of work. "Few days," he replied. "Then I might go back to just past where you found me. There was a really nice glade on the mountain that I might try to go live in. It was very pretty." Six knew he wanted to live far away from people. Have his own place. It's not like there was a hospital worth living near and don't even get him started on the smell.

Copperback laughed. "Heh, a man who fell into a river might want to reconsider living in the middle of nowhere with no help. You're a good man Six. It was a pleasure and it would be a shame if a big cat or something took yah. It's called Deathspire mountain for a reason. If you ever need a job you’re welcome on our ship."

"Oooh yeah, I know, but I really don't want to answer to anyone and there are already a few people living up there. I'll be fine." Six thanked the three sailors and left the boat heading towards the gates.

Copperback shouted after him in a highly visible display. “Praise be Kynairos!”

Six called it back, “Praise be Kynairos!”

The thick iron gates hung open, motionless. Two pairs of guards stood to either side of the entrance, one checking the flow of peoples. She stopped Six and looked him up and down.

Six smiled.

“Two coppers,” she said.

That seemed reasonable so Six pulled two coppers out of his pockets and handed it to her.

“Alright,” she said, nodding. “Go ahead. No trouble now.”

Six nodded back and went to pass through before stopping and coming back. “Wait, sorry. Can you tell me where the Prancing Stallion Inn is located?”

The guard grimaced. “Go on in, don’t waste my time,” she said.

Six pulled a silver from his pouch and held it between his index and middle fingers. All cool like. “What if I made it worth your while?” He asked. He had always wanted to ask for information like that.

She walked up and snatched it out of his hand. “Don’t be cheeky,” she growled but gave out clear and precise instructions to the inn.

Six repeated them back to her for confirmation and at the nod of her head he thanked her and passed through the portal and into a bustling intersection. It was even more hectic than the docks. Six weaved through the crowd and through a mixture of the directions, asking about and being able to read the local signs, he made it to the inn. He was kinda bad at navigating but he made it.

The Prancing Stallion was a three story affair nestled in a strip of stores and stalls. In a market. Above the door hung a white sign embossed with a rampant stallion. Six watched for a bit and noted a steady trickle of in and out traffic. He was nervous. Meeting Copperback and crew had been an accident. This was more purposeful. This Alison person had no idea their comrades died. That he killed them.

Six felt like he was making a mistake. He considered turning back, he already had the stuff they gave him, there were no consequences to failing this thing. But no, he kept his word. A man is nothing without his honor. He wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing he didn’t even try. So Six sighed and entered the inn.

The bottom floor was styled like a tavern and Six looked about at a large room with a few human and non-human patrons scattered about. The rough and blocky innkeeper stood behind the bar, ladling a bowl of something from the steaming pot that was in a fireplace. She shouted to Six, “getcha anything sweetie?”

Six cleared his throat and nodded. “I'm looking for a person called Alison? I was told she would be here.”

“S’not my place to give out information for free,” she said, clearly asking for money.

“Well how much will it cost to know?” Six asked, he was ok with people trying to make money.

“I would expect nothing less than a gold piece,” she said.

“A gold piece? Phbffff. Fuck that…” He blew a raspberry and cursed. “Pardon my language.”

“Well good luck to you then, sir. Now buy something or get out.” The innkeeper was not impressed.

“Can I get some water?”

She stared at him flatly.

“I hadn’t really expected that to work. Ok, I’ll take some of that there soup.”

She ladeled him some soup and Six turned to face the room. “Hey,” he said loudly. “Is there an Alison here?”

A tall woman stood up from one of the tables in the back of the dim room. She projected a powerful voice. “Who wants to know?” A dark pommeled greatsword sat upon her back.

Six grabbed the bowl of soup and nodded at the Innkeep. Screw your gold he thought. “I brought a message from Carralevine.” He offered.

“...What’s the message and why should I trust you?” The skepticism was heavy on her voice. Who was this man, where was the party?

Six shrugged. “You don't have to. Pretty sure I just gotta deliver it, you can decide to believe it or not.” Six was sure of that. He didn’t have to convince her of anything.

After a short internal deliberation the giant of a woman nodded. Hearing it wouldn't hurt.

Six cleared his throat and delivered the next words as gently as he could.”Carralevine and her party have fallen, she said it's over and to try to find another way to a life you want.” He received a prompt.

Quest Complete, Giving Mercy I

Rewards for completion :150 EXP

The woman came stomping out of the dim, looming over the seated Six. She had short black hair and a cute face. That face was furious. “She's dead? What does that even mean? How do you know she's dead and how did you come to have this message? Is that Matt's armor you’re wearing?”

Six sighed and breathed deeply. Then he told her almost everything, painting himself as a wanderer who found a terrible situation. As he told the story, he kept his eyes on her face, monitoring her reaction.

It went from furiousness to denial to sadness to guilt then to anger which was close to furiousness but less furious. Wait, it went back to furiousness.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

It seemed it was going poorly for him. He could see it in her face.

She spoke coldly. “You killed them.” It was more of a statement than a question.

He drank some soup. “Yes. They asked me to.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t quite believe it either.”

“You think that changes anything?” She spoke with a snarl.

“Yes, yes I do. You do know there were no failure conditions for this quest? I already have all the rewards just for accepting it.”

“Why would they ask you for something so stupid? They wouldn’t give up like that.”

“I told you,” Six said softly. “Poison. Carralevine was quite sure.”

“Then why would you do it? Why would you come here after?” Her skepticism of his good intentions was heavy.

Six snapped. “Because I said I would do it! What would you have done? And! You need to know! You can't rely on dead people.”

Alison brought her hand down in a bar shaking slam and Six could hear her growl. He tried his best to project calm confidence. This lady was scary.

He breathed. “I'm sorry, it is what it is.”

She slowly sighed. Releasing and slumping her shoulders.

Six thanked god, that looked like acceptance. He had fulfilled his obligation. “I'm sorry,” he said again. “I hope everything turns out well for you.” He finished his soup as she stood there.

“Where are the cairns?” She asked.

Near the base of Death Spire mountain. Very secluded. Very peaceful. I wish I could’ve done more. Is there anything else you want to know?”

Alison shook her head, no.

Six nodded. “How much for the soup?”

“Three copper,” the old woman promptly stated.

Six paid it easily. It seemed that copper was worth about a dollar and a half. Somewhere in there. “How much for a room?”

“Six copper a day.”

“A room with a lock?”

“One silver two coppers”

Six tried giving her 2 silver and 16 coppers and she took it without complaint, handing Six a numbered key. Ten coppers to a silver. How many silver to a gold?

Alison looked bleary and lost. “What's your plan now?” She asked.

“Probably stay for a few days and head back into that mountain. It was beautiful there, absolutely gorgeous and this city… kinda stinks.” He was serious. Six was done with society. Especially in a world like this, too many power struggles. Too many adversaries.

“Just going to walk off into the mountain after leaving me with this news? Aren't you worried about getting hurt?” Alison was a warrior but Six was definitely not. At least not yet, he could learn, growth was possible.

Six shrugged. “Yes.” He had his health regen "I'll be fine. Might hire someone to teach me how to live out there. This is all quite new for me.”

“I'm surprised you didn’t get eaten by a mountain cat.”

“Me too to be honest but it’s really nice and I just want a place of my own. Away from people. I know what I like and this city is close enough if I’m feeling lonely.” He smiled. “What’s your plan now? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Alison waved it away. “Gonna go tell the settlers that we are not going anywhere.” She sighed. “Everyone is going to be crushed. We all relied on those four.”

“Well, I hope everything goes well. Stay safe.” He nodded, she nodded. He got up and stood almost eye to eye with her, she was a few inches taller than his six foot two. A bit closer he could see pointed ears. She was an Aelf? She looked more human than anything.

He wandered out of the inn and into the bustling city. He wanted to explore and just… live… So that means being self-sufficient and although the rings had a whole bunch of useful tools, actual items for living were missing. So Six was going to buy some essentials for life and then try to make his way back to that nice valley.

He needed to find a survivalist to hire, basic house items and some books to read or games to play. He wanted to learn how to survive out in the death spire mountain. His fantasy back home was to somehow have a dope, tricked out cabin but with land prices and the cost of living he knew it was gonna be a fantasy. Now he was gonna move out in the middle of nowhere and become a hermit. A squatter, there was like 1600 people on that mountain, he could find his own little patch and go unnoticed, he was sure. He should get an instrument and seeds to grow. Potatoes… he wanted to grow potatoes, and squash.

Six wandered around and quickly found a general store. He entered to find a tidy store with lots of inventory. The shopkeep, a young human man, greeted Six and waited behind a counter. Six looked around and bought the things he needed. First of all, a badass tent. Building whatever he was going to live in would take time. He needed something to rest in, bedroll. He bought a pot, pan, and a knife. Flint. Bandages. Salt, something that looked like pepper, various seeds, and more bread and jerky. He grabbed a cabbage and a lot of dried beans. He needed the fiber. Something that looked like potatoes. He spent twenty minutes going around the store grabbing items that took his fancy. He paid two gold, five silver and eight copper. Everything went into the rings. The limited storage was becoming increasingly slim. He needed to be careful or maybe buy a mule. He didn’t really want to get rid of any of the extra equipment he had. It had been for those settlers but now they really didn’t need it. Needed a place to settle to be a settler.

Six didn’t like to barter but many people expected it, so he had learned the basics just enough to protect himself against those who enjoyed it. He was pretty sure that young man had gotten the better of him but Six didn’t care. His trade had leveled up.

Skill Increase: Trade has increased to level 2 - Initiate

The shopkeep even gave him directions to an apothecary. It was close by and was a squat drooping thing. The stout door opened with a heavy push and a cloud of smoke left the interior. Perfect. Six entered to find a little old woman tending the inventory of the store.

She looked up at him through squinted eyes and nodded curtly. “What can I help you with?” she asked.

Six was a little embarrassed with asking for drugs but it wasn’t the first time he had to find a dealer. “I’m looking for a smoking herb that has minor psychedelic properties, alleviates pain and makes one sleepy.”

“Smokeweed, you want some smokeweed? No problem!” She cackled.

This was it. Now he could truly retreat from society and live peaceably alone. The old woman rummaged about and came back to him with a jar of what was unmistakably extremely dry and weak weed. It had almost fossilized, it looked so old. There were seeds on it though and it was all she had at all so he bought it anyway and hoped he could grow some of his own. Six bought a selection of healing salves, soaps and some very expensive toothpaste. He bought ten packs of a healing root called rootbust. It healed a small amount over time while you chewed on it. Not useful in combat really but overtime it could make a difference. He paid twenty-two silver and six coppers. Most of the cost was sunken into glassware, a really expensive glass smoking pipe and medicine. He already had a tinderbox from Carralevine.

Onto books. Survival for dummies or something like it was on Six’s mind. He was curious as to what sort of fiction he could find but mostly he was looking for skill manuals and guides. Surely there would be magic books and that would be cool too. The book quarter was actually a fifteen minute walk away from the inn so Six began to make his way there, stopping to ask for directions and re-navigating. On the way Six saw a crier. A man standing on a corner giving a street side sermon about Kynairos. Six got a moment to look at him. A tall, dark complexioned man who wore the white and red of Kynairos. The priest held their black clad holy text and gesticulated while expounding on the greatest sin of all. Sloth.

Six had heard enough of that stuff back on earth. He was definitely walking into the forest and never coming out. He arrived at the book quarter and picked the one with the cleanest sign. He didn’t know why but clean, well maintained signs really sold him on the business that they belonged to. He entered one called Cake’s Texts and was impressed to see the entire small building filled floor to ceiling with books.

“Hello?” came a questing voice from somewhere within the book labyrinth.

“Hello!” Six said as jovially as he could and a figure stepped out from behind a wall of paper.

It was a halfling woman. She wore horn tipped glasses and a white dress that had many different pockets. “Hello, I’m Cake. Is there anything I can help you with?” she asked.

“Why yes,” Six said with a smile. “I'm looking for a ton of books on survival, foraging, construction, agriculture, history of Arkion and the empire, maps of the local area and anything you got on deathspire. Anything you got on magic and some legends if you got any.

Cake blinked. "Wow, tall order but I think we got a little of everything you want. Gimme a few minutes."

Six nodded and looked around while the halfling went and picked books out from the towers of tomes. She returned quickly and laid the books out on the table at the front.

She pointed at the first one and went down the line as she explained. "First we have a carpentry book, second is a book on masonry. These are not magical but if you study and practice them properly they will bring you up to mid apprentice. I don't have any books on construction but those two are related so you should get construction levels while you practice either. Now, this book on farming could bring you to high apprentice, maybe into journeyman, again not magical but very useful. The two history books I have represent fractions of the whole picture but it's what I got. A few legends, one about Ethrina the dragonkin. If you know what I mean." She winked, "these last two are earth magic grimoires. True grimoires, magical. Using them will teach you the spells stone spear and stone wall, it won't get you any levels in earth magic but very useful and quite expensive. No books on survival but I do have a few local maps. Interested?

Six moaned internally. She didn't list prices before asking after his interest. He would have felt better with clear prices but knowledge was power and he couldn't lie any better in this life. "Yea, how much for the lot?"

"Weeeelll." She began. "For the carpentry and masonry books, two gold and three silver for each book."

Six sucked in a reflexive breath and sighed. Was that two hundred and thirty bucks for each? For some educational texts? Wait, he thought, that was about right for his college books. "Ok, what about the rest?"

Cake smiled and continued with her pricing. "The farming book could get you to high apprentice, low journeyman so it's a bit more expensive. Three gold and two silver for that one. The history lore, less useful so one gold and two silver for both of those. The three legends I could let go for four silver and five copper."

Alright, so value was tied to skill and knowledge development. He had more than enough money to buy them. In fact, the money he gained from those adventurers made him far more wealthy than he ever was back in his previous life. It wasn't an endless amount of money and he wasn't about to waste it but he wanted these books and it wouldn't hurt his wallet too much. He nodded and she continued.

“The maps are well made and of high quality. One of Deathspire and one of the surrounding areas of Olisrosa.” She cleared her throat. “They cost two gold each and I barely make anything off of them but I do keep them for someone like yourself.

Six sighed but nodded.

"Ok," she said in a slightly sweeter tone. "The mundane earth grimoire is slightly more expensive at twelve gold."

Six choked a bit at the price and it was his turn to clear his throat. The halfling waited for him to say something but he gestured for her to continue and she kept going.

"Lastly we have the magical grimoires. Instant knowledge makes it a bit more expensive but there is no way you won't learn it. It's not a skillbook so in terms of magical books it's cheap. All that said, both would cost eighty-nine gold and nine silver."

Six sucked another breath and blew out a low whistle. "This is a big city but how many people can afford books that expensive?"

“Very few.” She acknowledged.

"Then how do you make enough money to stay in business?"

"Oh, I sell alot of romance novels. The one about Ethrina is quite saucy just so you know."

Six nodded, romance always dominated books sales back home, it makes sense it was that way here too.

He tallied the totals in his head and the price for everything came to,

114 gold, 23 silver, and five copper.

Holy crap, that was almost all of his money. But did he really need money? After these books he really didn't need anything else. He needed to hire someone to teach him basic survival skills but other than that he really didn't need tons of money. If he ended up needing money, he could work. Maybe he could make some art or some shit and sell it farmers market style.

"How about 75 gold for everything and you throw in a mundane book on trapping and husbandry or something." Six hated to barter but this was the time to go hard.

The shopkeep laughed. “75? No, impossible, I need to make some profit off of these and you could make tons of money off of the masonry knowledge and the grimoires are worth more than that.”

That seemed like bullshit. “Do farmers make enough money to pay for something like that?”

“Well no but a lord or lady would. You could always charge it to the empire as an operating cost. That's what the last mage did.”

“I would if I worked for the empire.”

The halfling froze and laughed nervously. “Could I see your imperial mage’s guild sigil?”

You need a license to practice magic? He thought. Of course there would be something like that!

“No,” Six said. He shrugged and put on his best innocent grin.

“Well I can’t sell you these grimoires then.”

“Really? Why not?” Six tried to emit an aura of ease.

“It's illegal empire wide to aid unlicensed mages in the craft.” She spoke with a tone of idiotic derison.

“Empire is dead, so I’ve heard,” Six said casually.

“And you thought to just learn some magic?” She was smiling at his forwardness but Six knew this was a dangerous conversation for both of them.

He shrugged. “Yes.”

“No!” She laughed. “The priests of Kynairos still uphold imperial law. They would kill me.”

“What if I paid double?”

She froze again but this time restarted with a hopeful clarification. “Double?”

Six nodded.

“Everything? Double.” She nodded.

Six nodded.

“I won't help or say anything if you get caught.” Her hands opened in a helpless gesture.

Six nodded. Insistently.

She shrugged. “Double.”

They shook on it.