Kalydren – Year 1344, Month 1, Day 6. Spring
Olea Munroe
After that interrogation incident with Keen, I decided that I needed to explore, learn something about this world other than how to dodge lazy guards at night and bully a bunch of underfed children. I would say it was rather beneficent of me, doing my part and all that. Yep. Now where to, I guess I can circle the block, work my way out. The warehouse looks much cleaner on the outside, brick walls cracked in some places but still sturdy by all measurements that matter here. Across the alley was that other warehouse, red brick, much fancier, they both had the same dark wooden roof, pitched toward the alley to control falling rain, forcing it and any possible winter ice to fall into the alley, still not safe in my opinion, I was in that alley just last night!
I turn north up the smooth road, it seems to be made of some type of smoothed stone, mostly flat and joined with a gritty black mortar. I can see a fair distance ahead, several blocks without much foot traffic though I see a fair amount of wagons trundling along behind squat horses. What was it Keen said about port traffic, most of the merchant use this block as a midway or second storage of trade goods. Distribution centers on earth served the same purpose, there are some similarities. I continue walking, row after row of warehouses for several city blocks before I come to a ‘T’ shaped intersection facing a large five-story building, a sign out front displays a picture of a ship and a stack of coins, small letters underneath indicating dockmasters office. Well I have found the port, and it only took a fifteen minute walk. A signpost bears some information for me as well, indicating that to the west, my left, is the port and indeed I do see the sails rolled and tied to masts in the distance, swaying above the rooftops of local taverns and dock houses, probably a brothel or three. To the east, my right, the sign indicates the market district. Looking to the east I can see the road stretching on for almost half a mile; little storefronts and stalls with various oddities can be seen with increased frequency the further you walk from the port area. Considering I just came from the south, I look at the sign and sure enough, ‘Warehouse District’ in big bold letters. If these signs are in high use, I should have no problem finding my way back to the warehouse after dark. Impressive.
Choosing right I head ever onward, going to the market district while having no money may seem foolish but I have a secret, having no money means I am completely immune to impulse shopping! “Mwuahahaha!” I let an evil laugh slip, definitely have far too many people looking in my direction now, I don’t think I could explain my mood to them in a way that would make them not want to alert the Guard. Casual, act casual. Strolling along I take in the many sights and sounds of the early morning market, some people are still working to set up their wares in a way that would attract passing customers, or at least passing customers with money. I looked at everything! Small sandwiches and pastries wrapped around sticks; the jewelry nearly displayed behind not-so-clear glass cases. I saw the small ornamental plates and fancy wooden cutlery, who would casually be purchasing silver from a vendor stall, no one would be doing that if they had the money, what would the neighbors think! As I continue my little trip through the market I catch the casual conversation between two passing citizens, they seem to be in a heated discussion about acquiring money, I like money so I easily decide to follow them, I mean come on, money. Coins make for commerce, let us get money! I catch little snippets in the wind as my quarry heads for a busy building up ahead near the square at the end of the street, a wide fountain of clear blue water sits in the center of a broad open square. A tall pale blue statue rises from the pool in the center. The statue depicts a woman standing with arms stretched to the sky, chest out proud with her eyes closed. In her hands is a bowl, from it pours a crystalline flow of glistening water. The square is divided by a north-south road as well as the east-west road I am currently following, from what I understand the north road follows the Jaga Lake for which this city is named, South Jaga City. Is there a North Jaga City, it would make little sense otherwise I suppose. I white marble brick is set around the fountain with stone benches abutting the base of the pool to provide a seat for weary travelers though I pick up a strong no loitering for the ugly vibe from the nearby guards, it would be a shame if the downtrodden were to mar the scene. Sad but true, I myself am feeling a tad grimy, even if the clothes were new and my body may be just as fresh, that does not absolve me of all the filth I collected running through wet, muddy alleys last night. I see my two guides walking into a building of a south west facing building ahead of me and I take the time to observe. There are a fair number of people coming out of and going into the structure, a fancy five-story affair, all hard lines and rough edges of polished wood framing the windows of the mostly stone building. Banners of varying color adorn the sills under each, the sturdy looking cloth makes me think they have regular surveillance as it would be easy to use those for climbing the building. A sign above the door marks the building as home to the local jobs hall, could this be the fabled adventurer society?!
Speaking of sign, my eyes pick up the welcome sight of a lovely post letting me know that should I continue eastward from here I will be travelling along Market Street, whereas the northern road is Jaga Road, probably because it leads to the North gate and thusly the road that would follow Lake Jaga, this is only an assumption of course as I am not a local quite yet. The south road is labeled as Imperial Way, the picture next to the words seems to indicate it may lead through the city’s Crafting Quarter, I pick up quite the sounds of bustling in that direction. The soft clang echoing from the south as if some distant smith is pounding away on his anvil, I will definitely be visiting there some time soon. Enough of the sightseeing, I must stay focused. Time to visit the Jobs Hall!
I felt like a nervous green horn as I walked through the open double doors into the Jobs Hall, gawking at the people walking around wearing a hodgepodge of mismatched armor, the weapons on display here would explain the higher number of guards, well this and the obvious level of wealth displayed in this part of town. That reminds me, the warehouse district must skirt the slums on one side, maybe the government district as well, I did stumble somehow into the Guard Captain’s house, or at least his daughters room. Will that develop into some sort of Bifauxnen reveal later, I have no idea, but it might be fun!
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Distractions! Be vigilant, there we go. The pair I followed here seem to be talking to a man behind the counter, is he a quest giver, will I be able to get quests? Wait, no, on second thought that may lead to an overfull quest log that I will ignore forever until I discover an upper limit and suffer some unknown consequence for my avarice. I will just browse, the doors were open so I doubt I am trespassing, it seems to be a public place. Is there a place to sign up and become licensed, do I need a license? The room I am in has five walls, as the outer wall faces the street in a south west direction it seems almost like they built a four sided building and then took a knife down one corner to turn it into a disproportionate five sided five-story building. Is five a lucky number in this world, no lucky sevens? Argh, overload. There are a few mounter trophies of strange beasts on the walls, various horned and scaled creatures, one of them looked like an oversized hamster head, it looked like a Raticate! Seeing as I have no idea what I am doing I decide to try one of the available teller windows, worst case they ask me to bother someone else, I am fine with that.
I walked up to the nearest unoccupied person that wasn’t openly scowling at me and asked, “Excuse me miss, is there any work available? A man at the port told me to come here if I needed a job.” I smile my best super-smile, “Please tell me I wasn’t lied to, I am very new to town.”
She smiles back at me, her bright silver eyes widening under her bright metallic blue hair as she looks down at me, “Why certainly young man, I would be glad to help,” the emphasis on glad was not lost on me, “what kind of work are you qualified for?”
I grit my teeth a little at this continued confusion, I am getting myself a bow for my hair, I don’t care what people say. “I’m not sure what I could do to be helpful, how do I know what jobs would be right for me?” I ask this in as naïve a voice as I can, smiling slightly to help the conversation go along. I do not know why I am playing this up and letting the misunderstanding continue.
“Oh, oh my. “Okay, let’s start with this,” she reaches under the counter on her side of the counter and pulls out what looks to be a small round orb secured with a dark cable, probably theft prevention. “Put your hand on the orb, it will let us know what we are working with, you would be surprised at the amount of people that come in here not knowing what to do with their varied and sundry skills.”
“What will it do,” I inquire, there is no way I want everyone to know my life story, hell I don’t even know my story on this world.
“Oh. No reason to be afraid, this stone will show us your basic abilities, it is the simplest model so it won’t be disclosing too much and no one not within three feet will be able to view it’s details.” She supplies the last with a wink. “We do not judge, we know that a variety of skills are needed to adequately perform the various jobs that we receive daily.”
Sighing I resign myself to exposure, hoping they won’t take any honest offense at my skill set, what would happen if I had Necromancy and some skill called summon Legion, that would get the guard I was sure of it, regardless of privacy policy. “Okay.” I said lamely.
Placing my hand on the orb felt almost like holding empty air, or empty air with mass, no difference between it and the ambient air temperature at all. It conforms to the contours of my hand and glows a soft pale blue, it went from black to this pale blue and then back again, showing a slow transition of the shades between. Then this happened.
A small parchment seems to unfurl above the orb, translucent and glowing, as it displays a familiar list.
* Subject: Olea Munroe
* Attributes: Charisma, Dexterity, Intelligence.
* Level: None
* Skills –
* General: Reading, Writing, Survival, Observation, Flexible Mind.
* Specialty: Piety [1/4] Cure Wounds [1/4] Knifework [1/4]
“Oh, you must be quite the charmer, indeed!” She laughs at that, a soft tinkling of bells, “It says here you have some healing ability, and the knifework skill. A healer then? Knifework does seem odd to have though, are you a cook?” She writes down some notes in her ledger, “Do you mind if I file this information in case we have need of these services? No one will see your name, only a small number that we can cross reference in our own files to contact you if someone shows interest, healing abilities though sought after are rare to find through the Hall.”
“Sure, sounds like a nice way to advertise my abilities,” I reply, no arrogance at all, “my healing potential is somewhat limited to light wounds, broken noses and the like. I doubt I could easily mend a more than a sprained ankle or save someone from more than minor scarring.”
She winces at this, “Trust me when I say most people get enough small injuries to add quite a few minor scars,” continuing, she adds “Minor scars can accumulate to quite the tapestry over time. A lot of people would welcome any amount of help in avoiding such things, especially the ladies, though I am going to say with your charisma levels I fear for your safety among the women we see come through here.” A brilliant smile belies any chance of a misunderstanding here.
Not sure if I should play up some honest flirting or not here, “I would glad to assist anyone in need of my services then, if you know of no one is there per chance a job available that I could do alone? A primer for things to come.”
“Let me see,” she begins rifling through some colored sheets of parchment on the counter, “Here we go, someone in the guild district, Master Baker, he needs someone to clear his basement some rats, he is getting on in his years, not as spry as he once was and his wife would kill him herself if he came down with something while dealing with the issue. If you take the job, it will pay five coppers per rat, a severed tail will be used as proof of each rat slain. The will provide a means of disposal when you finish, it says here they have a cart arranged out back that will take the corpses to a local pig farm, we try not to ask for those specifics.”
“Sounds simple enough,” I say, “Will they pay me there, or should I come here?”
“Oh, yes.” She quickly replies, “How silly, of course. Come back here for payment, the large counter at the rear of the room will take the proof, please go there when you return. I hate having to clean the blood from my counter and he enjoys the effect such a mess has on his reputation, the whole rugged adventurer vibe he calls it.”
“Well, I think it is time to thank you for the help then,” I say, “I cannot wait to return and speak some more with you.” She blushed, fantastic.
“Don’t forget these,” she smiles, while saying, “you will need these papers to let them confirm you were sent by us.” She waves me off then, still blushing.
I go outside and look over my papers in case I have missed any details, out of curiosity I look at the back of the page. In a small, neat script, a street name and number. I head there the street joyously chiming, “Off to slay some mice!”