Entering the cool lobby of the Adventurer’s Guild, Joe spotted the face he had been hoping for behind the front desk. Kendell had had her back to him but she was turning around in response to the opening of the front door. His stomach knotted. Joe’s stomach clenched, fearful he was about to get the brush off after the way she had bolted from the table a few nights ago. She was wearing her typical bright smile, the one she seemed to have for everyone. Her eyes took in Joe and his worries vanished. Kenda’s grin grew even wider and her eyes lit up.
“Joe! You’re back! Congrats! Ears came in an hour or so ago and she told me about your quest together. Nice work!”
“Thanks, Kenda. Earcellwen is great. We made a great team,” Joe stammered a bit flustered. He looked around, noting the two of them were alone in the lobby. Stepping up to the desk, he lowered his voice. “Hey. Just so you know, she hates that nickname.”
Kendell gasped and red flushed into her cheeks. She clapped her hand to her mouth and spoke through her concealing fingers. “She … I …. Why didn’t she …. I didn’t know. Oh no. I called her that this morning. I always call her that. Everyone does.”
“I got lucky. Tezeno told me. Somehow he knew but she confirmed it with me.”
“Like really hates it?” she asked plaintively.
“Yeah. Sorry,” Joe consoled, knowing how embarrassing it could be to make a gaffe that offends someone without meaning to.
Joe almost smiled at the irony but kept his face straight so that Kendell would not misinterpret the expression. When he first saw her again, he was terrified that he was the one who had blundered. Yet here he was with Kendell clearly happy to see him at first and now embarrassed by an unintentional blunder.
“Hey, it’s ok. She says everyone does it. Just start calling her by her real name and it will be fine.”
“I’m going to kill, Tezeno,” the guild-trainer fumed, clapping her hand onto her desk. “He’ll blow his top if a report is misfiled,” she growled, sweeping a hand over a pile of pages covering the surface, “or if someone messes up on procedure, but he lets us be jerks this whole time and doesn’t tell us because there are no actual rules for social behavior. Archons really piss me off sometimes. Why did he just tell you and not the rest of us?”
Joe thought back over their conversation before replying. “I think because I asked about her.”
Kendell huffed angrily. “I really like Ears … damn it … Earcellwen. Now I feel like a jerk.”
“Sorry about that. Maybe I shouldn’t …”
“You damn well should have,” Kendell exclaimed, rounding on him. “I’m mad but not at you. You did the right thing, unlike a certain square-jawed co-worker of mine.” She came around the desk and placed a hand on his upper arm. “Really, thank you. Sorry about the temper there. I get that from my family. We Bracey’s tend to wear our hearts on deck.”
“All good. Just as long …,” he started before being interrupted by her
“Oh, speaking of which, I should apologize to you too. I ran off on you like a crazy lady the other night. I realized the next day I never explained but then I was trapped at home.”
“No worries, Kenda. I guessed you had a good reason,” Joe lied.
“No. Please let me explain. My family are craftsmen. We are glassmakers and glassblowers. My father, brother, and uncle are glassblowers. My mother, grandmother, and I work with flat glass. This town goes through a lot of glass, even after we enchant it against breakage. With Founders Day coming up everyone wants their shops and houses in ship-top-shape, so it has been all hands on deck.” She stopped and took a breath. “That afternoon with you, I was supposed to be in the shop as soon as my shift here at the guild ended. But I was having such a good time with you.”
“Thanks. So was I … with you.”
A bit of worry left her features. “Well, my mom was spitting nails. She just doesn’t get that I don’t want to be a glassmith. She thinks the whole trainer idea is just a phase. When I didn’t show up that afternoon … well let's just say that she almost started throwing the product. I’ve been grounded to my workbench ever since. I wanted to apologize for bugging out on you the other night.”
“Whew,” Joe sighed. “I really thought I messed up.”
“No. No. It wasn’t you. I’m so sorry I made you feel that way. I was having so much fun with you, I missed how late it had gotten.” A tear ran down her cheek. Kendell spun around, wiping it away. “Damn it. Sorry. I hate that. I cry. Even at stupid stuff.”
Joe felt like a heel, even though he knew he had done nothing wrong. He placed his hand on her shoulder. She tensed for a second but then relaxed and even leaned into his grip a little. “Don’t worry about it Kenda,” he continued. “I had a good cry when I got here. Completely out of the blue. I get it.”
The girl sniffed once and turned back to him. “Thanks. Just first I was mad at myself for Earcellwen and then for you,” she murmured, brushing another stray drop away. “The tears just … I can never stop them when they show up. It’s not you.”
“Well, if it will make you feel any better, I am very happy to see you again,” Joe confessed. “I was hoping you’d be here so I can tell you how well all our planning and training paid off.”
“Yeah, Ea … Earcellwen told me.” The guilder squared her shoulders and composed herself. A second later her smile returned. “I want to hear it from your side too. In a bit though. I have one thing I have to get done now,” she stated, tilting her head to the pile of parchment on her desk.
“As soon as I’m done I’ll find you. Are you looking for Earcellwen?” she asked. Joe managed a nod before she blurted, “She is on the shooting range last I saw.”
“Ok. Great. Thanks, Kenda. See you in a bit.” Joe wanted to stay longer with her but he knew he would just slow down whatever job she needed to finish. Plus he could tell she wanted a minute to get herself recentered. Turning on his heel, Joe exited through the side door of the lobby and down the short hallway that led out behind the building.
The Adventurers Guild took up an entire block. There was the main guild house, a three-story tall mansion-sized structure. Behind the building was a massive walled yard filled with training areas. There were combat rings and obstacle courses. And of course target ranges, which is where he found his elven friend.
“Morning, Earcellwen,” he called out, waiting for a second until after she had released her knocked arrow.
The wildbow looked at him, then up at the sky, before turning back to Joe. “I think you mean afternoon, Joe. You sleep in today?”
“Is it really that late? Sorry. Yeah. I did. Also did a bit of shopping. I got a new skill.”
“Really. What did you buy?”
“[Dual Cast]. I’ll be able to use [Grit Razor] twice as fast now.”
“Then you are going to have to pay a lot more attention to your mana,” she replied, vanishing her bow into the locket around her neck. “You burn through an awful lot of it for a non-mage.”
“Good point. I hadn’t considered that. I was running dry after that last fight. Granted I was using [Deaden Flesh] at the end there to be humane, so I could have fought a bit longer if I had needed to.”
Joe looked at his resources quickly. His mana pool was nearly three thousand points; twenty-eight, eighteen to be exact. The [Mystic] trait gave him a ten percent bonus to mana recovery. Still, Earcellwen was right. Joe used a ton of mana. While he was out of open skill slots at the moment, he should look into a skill like his [Efferous Endurance] for mana. There had to be a common mana-boosting skill for wizards and other spellcasters.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“What was the plan for the rest of the day?” he asked.
Earcellwen unclipped her quiver and stashed that as well. “In your trading did you manage to sell the extra gear?”
“No, sorry. The place I bought the shard from was not really interested in the bracers. Also, we’d planned on selling the gems here.”
“I always sell gems to the guild. It’s easier. Oh, and you should take most of them. The sword you gave me is a good one.”
Joe had tried to use his ring to identify the items on the walk back to Fort Coral the day before. The free ten ranks of [Assess Item] had been enough for him to ID the gloves and his pickaxe but it had not been high enough for the sword.
“What does it do?” he asked.
“I can show you.” The elf drew the sword where it had been hanging on her belt and presented it to him. A window opened for Joe. Unlike the screens that Hawking gave him, Earcellwen's scroll was tinted a blueish green and looked more like a still pond surface, even though it was vertical.
Item [Icicle of the Nisse] (Weapon - Rare): Major cold resistance. Moderate damage bonus: cold. Treasured companion {+2 to all attributes of an animal companion for one hour a day}
“Nice. What’s a nisse?”
“They are a type of small fey that live in arctic places. They love animals and help herders who treat them well,” she replied. “I have to admit, I had to look that one up. There are no nisse around here. Maybe on the mountain tops. They are only common in cold regions.”
Joe manifested the pick from his dim-bag and looked at it again.
Item [Piercing Pick] (Weapon - Uncommon): Minor damage bonus: piercing. Fracturing 2 {Moderate damage bonus versus stone and metal}
“Well. Remember I got the bracers and the skill shard too.”
“And I got all the fangs,” the elf countered.
“Eh. Let’s just split them evenly,” Joe stated, shrugging his shoulders. “I’d like to partner with you again and I don’t want to nickel and dime every trading session.”
“What’s a ‘nickel and dime’?” Earcellwen asked, looking at Joe with a puzzled expression.
“Every silver or gold, then. Let’s just try and be square with each other and not worry about every little coin.”
“I think you are underestimating the sword’s value but I understand. My father always says ‘Misers make good bankers but poor friends.’ Ok, but next time you get first pick of whatever we loot.”
“Deal.”
Joe looked at the weapon in his hand and then at the ranges around them. He held up a finger to RC in a ‘wait a minute’ gesture and stepped over to where he had practiced throwing weapons with Kenda. He hefted the pickaxe, trying to locate its balance point. To his surprise, he found it easily. With a skill-enhanced toss, he sent the weapon spinning through the air at one of the closer targets. The heavy point sunk into the wood with a satisfying thunk. Joe could tell it would be harder to nail throws with this weapon than he could with his axes due to the smaller impact point.
[Forceful Fist] plucked out the pick and returned it to Joe. He hit the next two targets easily, each a bit further away than the last one. When he reached the twelve-foot target, it was a struggle to nail the point. He knew he needed to practice with the pickaxe but in a pinch, it could serve as a backup weapon. The bonus damage was a nice plus too.
Storing the pickaxe he gestured to the guildhouse. “Ok let’s go sell those stones.”
Joe let RC take the lead since he had not been to the guild-store yet. On entering the lobby they noted Kendell scribbling on a page before filing it in a cabinet behind her. She waved and called, “Almost done.”
It turns out he did not have to walk far. There were six doors in the front entryway where Kenda was working. The main entry to the street was on the west wall. On the north wall were a set of double doors for the library. On the east side of the room, there were three sets of doors. The first was the north hallway that led to the study and Myllo’s workshop as well as another couple of rooms Joe didn’t know. In the middle of the wall were large double doors that lead to the main meeting/dining hall. Joe had looked into that posh chamber but hadn’t entered it yet. On the other side of the meeting hall doors was a single door that looked identical to the one that led to the north hallway. Lastly, to the right of the front doors, on the south wall, was the door he and RC were coming in. This passage was how one reached the training yards as well as the locker rooms.
Earcellwen turned left and headed down the south hallway. The first door on the left was already open and displaying what was undoubtedly the guild’s commissary. It was manned by a gnomish gentleman with a plume of golden hair. Not blonde, Joe noted. The man’s tall crest of hair, as well as his mustache and beard, looked like they were spun from pure gold.
The room was set up so that a few people could stand in the center area of the room, which was encircled by counters. The back walls of the shop were covered by shelves and drawers. This was clearly not a place where one browsed for goods but instead came to fill requests or sell items.
“Hello, Puqmup. Do you have a minute for a gem sale?” RC greeted the shopkeep, as she stepped up to one of the counters.
“Hiya, Ears. Sure. Let’s see what ya got,” the gnome piped in a high voice. He must have been standing on an elevated ledge since his knees were level with the countertop. He turned around and took a tray out of a drawer behind him before plucking a monocle from his vest pocket and fitting it to one eye. The wooden dish had high sides. The middle of the tray was raised with a ridge around the elevated center. The outer edge of the pan had a dozen or so recessed slots.
Earcellwen poured the pouch of gems they had looted from the apes into the center area. A couple of the stones bounced out into the outer ring. Puqmup picked the strays up and examined them before dropping them into different slots. He then went to work on the main pile of stones.
“Nice lapis,” he muttered.
“Fractured topaz. Too bad. It has such a nice color.”
“Carnelion.”
“Beryl.”
“Oooh, that’s a pretty peridot.”
And so on.
In a matter of minutes, he had sorted the gems into the slots, which Joe assumed indicated the stone’s value. “Nice little haul there, Ears and … actually, I don’t know you. Hi. I’m Puqmup Hozemzoop.”
“Joe. Nice to meet you.”
“Ok, you two. These are worth seventeen fifty at full market-price. Who has the better reputation?”
RC looked to Joe, who shrugged and then nudged his chin in her direction. “I do,” she answered. “My reputation with the guild is two sixty-four.”
Puqmup stepped over to an abacus mounted to the counter. His fingers flashed across the beads and a second later he announced. “Eleven oh six. Eleven oh six, on the nose. I love it when that happens. Gold? Plats? Geld? Even split?”
“Yes. Even split,” the elf replied. “Platinum bars are fine by me.”
“I’ve never had dragon geld before,” Joe asked, curious about that unknown currency. “How many would I get?”
“You’d get five geld and three gold coins,” the gnome answered. ‘What color do you want?”
“Ahh, can I get an assortment?”
“Sure thing. Let’s see. Reds are always popular. Blacks are cool too. Oh, you need a Coralwyrm. Local specialty and look how pretty they are.” the small man held up a disc of iridescent coral colors. It was mostly a deep yellow and neon green but there were ribbons of rich red and orange snaking through the coin.
“Give him a sea-serpent and forest-maw, too.”
“Nice!” Puqmup squeaked, grabbing them from some container that lay out of sight.
The little shopkeep spun around and handed Joe eight coins. The three gold were common enough but the other five were amazing. The lusciously hued disks drew his eye straight to them. Each shining circle called to Joe. He felt himself being drawn into the glitter depths that lurked within each coin. There were whispers of power and a time immortal just barely hissing in the edges of his mind.
Joe felt his [Iron Mind] flare at the same time Earcellwen gave him a gentle nudge.
“Holy cow!” Joe swore, shaking away the lingering feeling of enthrallment. “Those things are insane. People trade with those?”
“Some do. But, yeah, you got to be careful with geld,” the gnome warned. “It can mess up your head something awful. I think I once heard that more dragon hunters die to the geld than they do to the dragons themselves.”
“That sounds like a folktale to me,” Earcellwen scoffed. “Granted, my dad did warn me about those coins. ‘There is no greater greed than one wrought from dragon-geld.'”
“Let’s put those away for now.” Joe dropped the coins into his dim-bag, to get them out of sight. He blew out a breath, trying to fully clear his head.
“I know there was something else I was thinking of doing here but I’ve lost it,” he muttered. Turning to Earcellwen, he switched topics. “It will come to me later when my head is not echoing with those whispers.”
“Then, let’s go look for info on that valley,” she stated, giving his arm a gentle pull. Joe left first as she turned and waved goodbye to the gnome before heading with him back toward the library.