Chapter 71
K'tharkle City Hall
Media Relations Dept.
For immediate release:
On Thursday afternoon at approximately 1pm, K'tharkle City Watch along with the support of units from the Adventurers Guild served a search warrant on Chelsea Manor and its environs at 73 Cvix Dr.
Multiple agencies as well as medical transports from two separate medical facilities assisted.
During the execution of the search warrant numerous items were recovered including documents outlining a human trafficking operation. Multiple victims were located and are currently receiving medical attention. All ten subjects are currently listed as in critical condition. K'tharkle City Watch intends to debrief the survivors once they have been medically cleared.
We ask that you respect their privacy during this trying ordeal as they assist K'tharkle City Watch.
An investigation has been opened in to the owner of the Manor. Anyone having information regarding Chelsea Manor, its owner, or the operation they had been running should contact K'tharkle City Watch.
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Jay arrived back at the Guild shortly before dinner. He headed directly to the meeting hall that Walter had been using. The secretary recognized him and told him to go right in.
“Jay! How'd it go?” Walter said with a smile.
“Well I found some things but the sergeant rushed me out of there once I had.” Jay said a little confused.
“You're not a member of the Watch. You did your job and it was time for them to do theirs, I'm sure that was all it was.” Walter said as he shook Jay's hand and they both sat down.
Jay put his hands on his lap and looked over at Walter, waiting for him to begin.
“So Jay, I pay full Guild members five gold a run when I put these little groups together. I had initially decided to pay you a lower rate since you were a fresh trainee with no fighting skills.” Walter began.
Jay winced. His lack of combat ability was a constant source of frustration for him. He didn't even mind not being able to fight – it was the way everyone constantly pointed it out that frustrated him.
“Yes, I can see you're still sensitive about that. You need to get over that. Allow me to reframe it for you. Everyone else in your class can fight better than you can. That's right, all of them.” Walter said with a serious look that made Jay sigh.
“How many of them are being sent on dungeon runs? Or being escorted out of lunch by Guild guards to meetings? Or are being asked for by name by the City Watch for Goddess sakes? I'll tell you how many! Zero. None of them.” Walter said firmly as he stabbed at the table with one finger repeatedly. “The other students are good at combat. That's it. Your skills are far more fascinating – and valuable. You need to stop confusing combat ability with value.”
Jay looked thoughtful at that. Walter was right. Jay was constantly being put in interesting and profitable situations – ones that he would never have found himself in if he was a combat focused character.
“You should treat your lack of combat ability as a badge of pride instead of a mark of shame. You have real value Jay. Which brings me back to my point. If you were any other Guild trainee 3 gold a run would be more than enough, but with the way you've conducted yourself on the past few runs it just isn't enough.” Walter said with confidence.
Jay smiled at that. More money was always good.
“So here's four gold,” he said as he slid the coins across the table towards Jay, “and I wanted to talk to you about the other thing.”
Jay took the four gold with thanks and put them in his pouch. More money to turn over to Boland.
“I need you to understand that I still charged people 5 gold for your slot – I just only paid you 3. I kept the other 2. I feel badly about that now that I know what you can do – you're worth more than 3 gold obviously. You're not the only one that used to confuse combat ability with value. So yes, I've turned over the funds to you that are yours but I still feel badly about the whole situation so I'd like to do more than merely give you what you're worth. Make it up to you I mean.”
Jay's face clouded a bit as he spoke but cleared once he got further along.
“I wasn't sure what to get you since you were still a Trainee. You spend most of your time in class, what could I possibly give you that you needed?” Walter said.
Jay suppressed a laugh, he could think of three things he needed to buy just off the top of his head.
Walter continued, “Then you went ahead and formed your own group – sooner than anyone had thought you would. You really ruined a lot of plans for other people who had thought they had your future all planned out already.” Walter said with a chuckle.
It seemed like Walter always knew far more about what was going on with Jay than Jay knew himself. Still, one did not interrupt a person when they were talking about buying you things. So Jay kept quiet and listened attentively.
“I'm not going to tell you what I got you, its a surprise. It isn't anything crazy, just something you'll need. You'll replace it I'm sure but for now I think it will help you out a great deal. Take this,” Walter said as he handed Jay a card the size of a driver's license over to him.
The card was formed out of grayish-blue stone and was definitely not natural. In the center of the card was a green gem inlaid in to the stone securely. The gem shone a deep bright green and sparkled. The card was heavier than it looked. Jay put it in to a spare empty coin pouch as Walter continued.
“Take that to 113 Berk Av, Craft Ward. Ask for Hal. He'll set you up right as rain. Go tonight after dinner, don't wait. Bring Glimmerhide Group with you. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!” Walter said with a sly grin.
Jay was off balance and unsure what to say. Walter had deftly told him that he had cheated him out of 4 gold but then paid him what he had taken, given him some great life advice, and finally had given him a surprise 'sorry I cheated you' gift. Should Jay be happy? Upset? Thankful? All the above?
Jay decided to just act like the man he wanted to be. “Thank you Walter. It took guts to admit what you did to my face.”
Walter winced and looked incredibly guilty as Jay continued to speak.
“Thank you for squaring things between us. I don't know what you got me but I appreciate the effort you've put in to it. I hope we can avoid confusion like this in our future dealings with each other?” Jay said with a questioning smile.
Walter finally smiled as he realized what Jay was saying. He reached across the table and shook Jay's hand. “I don't think that will be a problem.” he said happily.
“I'll be seeing you soon Jay.” Walter said with a smile.
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Jay realized he had been dismissed after an awkward moment and thanked Walter one last time before leaving.
Outside it was beginning to get dark and the temperature had dropped slightly. If it got any colder he'd need to buy a cloak. Great. Something else he needed to buy.
Patting his full coin pouch Jay walked the short way to the Dining Hall and got in line for dinner.
Dinner was a moist and tasty meatloaf. Hopefully the meat was hamburger of some type. It had been wrapped in bacon and was served with buttery rice pilaf and a serving of lemon zested peas. Although usually Jay would be excited over dinner that night he barely noticed as he looked about the hall for his friends.
His group!
Finally he saw a table with three waving arms and made his way over to them.
“Jay!” M'redith said as she gave him a side hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Get a room!” Aiden said teasingly and Norri laughed.
Jay sat down and filled in his friends on where he had been without being too specific. He'd been hired with the expectation that he wouldn't talk about what he did.
“I can't really talk about what I did? Oh! But you were all involved!” Jay said confusingly with a grin as he took out his coin pouch. “The split isn't going to be exact but it is important that you each receive an equal share for us helping out the Watch.”
Everyone looked confused so Jay started again as he handed each of them 10 silver. “So guess what I learned from Walter? He's been cheating me,” Jay started.
“Goddess sake!” M'redith swore angrily, “I knew it!”
Some of the students at nearby tables looked over at her outburst.
Jay made calming motions and continued, “That's not even the most important part. Look – he made things right with me. Paid me what he owed and set something up for me for tonight. Said to bring you all with me. So tonight we're going out on our first group activity. Shopping!”
The group was very interested in shopping as they counted out the money they had each received.
“Now that is out of way I can tell you the important stuff.” Jay said as he continued to calm M'redith down. She was livid.
“That, that.. JERK.” she muttered, her hands drawn in to fists.
Jay laughed but immediately covered it up when M'redith's furious eyes darted to the side to peer at him. “It's ok. We made up. He offered us help we didn't even know we needed. Turns out there are people out there who aren't happy we've formed a group.”
“What? Why?!” asked Aiden in a surprised voice.
M'redith didn't even pause, “If you want to isolate someone you don't want them forming a static Guild group – that makes isolating them much harder.”
Jay nodded, “Scary how quick you made that connection but you're right.” He shook his head for a second and smiled. “So it turns out our application isn't entirely finalized until we pay Guild taxes.”
“GUILD taxes?” Aiden demanded. “We have to pay taxes?”
Jay laughed openly this time, “Yes. 5% of our total haul when we run an activity as a group. Once we pay our first tax our group is written in stone – there are no secret technical means of breaking us up after that.”
M'redith nodded, “We need to pay our tax bill as soon as we get back from our dungeon run tomorrow!”
Jay nodded still smiling, “Ok, two things. One, our tax bill will be automatically paid by the system for us. We won't even miss it. And two, there is always the option of paying your tax manually.”
M'redith looked confused not quite putting it all together yet.
“So I took the money I made for assisting the Watch and paid Walter our Guild tax from what I made. I just paid you each your cut from our first Guild Group activity. Our taxes are paid and we're safe!” Jay said with a wide grin.
M'redith laughed at that. “So you strung us along this entire time letting us think we were getting broken up?”
Jay grinned, “Hey, whoever was trying to break us up probably won't stop just because we blocked this attempt. We're going to have to be extra careful to follow all the rules and not give them any reason to separate us.”
Norri smiled, “So we're going on a shopping trip tonight? Where to!”
“113 Berk Av, Craft Ward.” Jay said, reciting it from memory.
Norri shared a look with M'redith before Norri pursed her lips and M'redith spoke up. “Berk Avenue? You sure?”
Jay took out a slip of paper he had written it down on just in case his memory failed him. Yup, it said it right on the paper, 113 Berk Ave. “That's what Walter said.”
Aiden perked up, “Why? What's wrong with Berk Ave?”
Norri looked up as M'redith answered, “Berk Ave is.. expensive. A lot of Mastercraftsmen live or work on Berk Ave, it's kind of a well known thing.”
Jay laughed, “I don't know most well known things around here but hey, we're not paying. It's Walter's money, not ours.”
Norri perked up at that. Even though it was a reward for Jay and not the group they'd all go along to see what he had gotten, especially as Walter himself had urged them all to go along with him.
Everyone seemed satisfied with Jay's explanations and everyone went back to eating as Jay scarfed down his meal almost without tasting it he was so hungry. Finally the group finished and Jay leaned back in his seat and put an arm around M'redith which made her smile.
Norri hopped down off of her chair and collected everyone's tray and brought them up to the counter to turn them in.
“Did you guys tell her to do that before I got here?” Jay asked.
“Nope.” M'redith said.
“Not at all, that is all her.” Aiden said.
“She fits in with us pretty well I think, don't you?” Jay said turning to M'redith.
She nodded, “She's funny and seems to get along with our brand of humor. It will be interesting to see how she reacts when we tell her all about you – you know what I'm talking about.”
Jay laughed, “Good point. Worst case is we tell her and she decides to leave, right?”
M'redith nodded. “Even with three people we'd still be able to keep Glimmerhide Group – they couldn't disband us even if she left. So we'll be ok.”
Aiden pursed his lips, “So, what? Tell her tonight?”
Jay shrugged, “Sure, why not? I can spring for a coach instead of a cart tonight. It'll give us some privacy so we can fill her in during the ride.”
Norri came back and Jay grinned as everyone stood up to go outside. “We were just talking about you!”
Norri laughed, “No you weren't you're just teasing me!”
Aiden chuckled, “He's not kidding, we were all just talking about you. Since you're staying with us we figured we should let you in on our secrets!”
M'redith laughed, “He's not wrong but it isn't as spooky as he makes it sound.”
The group walked out of the dining hall in good spirits and walked the short journey to the Guild's main entrance. Aiden went ahead to flag down an empty passing passenger coach and having them pull in to the Guild entrance.
Aiden and Norri sat on one side and M'redith and Jay snuggled up on the other side of the cabin as the driver closed the doors behind them and the outside sounds faded away. The coach gave a light lurch as it began its slow journey to the Crafting Ward and M'redith leaned her head on Jay's shoulder as he began to speak.
“So Norri, I'm not from around here. I'm a Traveler. I come from a place called Earth. This is how it started..” Jay began as Norri listened attentively.