A swift kick to my gut woke me up. I was confused for a while not sure what was going on. The city gate was in front of me, my back hurt like no tomorrow, and Alex was next to me getting ready to kick again.
“I’M AWAKE I’m awake, you don’t have to kick me again,” I said desperately. Alex *tisted* in disatisfaction. HE was obviously still mad at me.
“Because you passed out I couldn’t make it to the city gates before they closed. Now we have to spend the night outside,” said Alex still very mad at me.
The area surrounding the city was plain grassland. Not even one tree to climb up unless we wanted to walk back to the forest. Which Alex was not in the mood for. So we were just sitting by the city gate under a torch. With me as far away from the torch as I could get. The atmosphere between us was so tense. I mustered up my courage and tried to start a conversation.
“So Alex, why did you become an adventurer?” I asked. It was a simple enough question that could lead to a long conversation.
“Why did you?” responded Alex. He was very unmotivated and angry with his response, but it was still better than not responding.
“Well when I received my blessing. I was told to experience the world. Probably because Treants are very isolated they don’t know much about the world as a whole. I assumed that the Goddess of Nature sent me to learn about the world so I could effect it. So I joined to see the world,” I said.
“You joined the adventuring guild to adventure? What do you think all of our quests are for?” asked Alex a bit surprised.
“I always thought those were for traveling expenses. After all city fees are expensive,” I said. Alex just stared at me in disbelief for a few seconds before laughing her head off. I felt really stupid about myself. Apparently my plan to adventure was so bad that it left Alex in this mad laughing state.
After a few minutes of laughing Alex finally addressed me. “Congratulations Odis you just got into the top 10% of adventures in my book,” said Alex still chuckling a little.
“What do you mean?” I asked still not sure of what is going on.
“Almost everyone in the adventuring guild is just a meat head that thinks the guild is just for killing monsters. So much that it nearly is, but that's not how it started. The adventuring guild started as stopping points for real adventures. Offering a bed, food, and an opportunity to earn money on their travels,” said Alex very motivated in his response.
“Then why does the guild have ranks? Is that just the effect of these new adventurers?” I asked partially curios partially wanting to continue Alex’s good mood.
“No, that was actually set up early on in the guild's history. Ranks are used to determine what areas are too dangerous to explore, and which quests you can take to earn money. So practically identical to today’s ranks,” said Alex.
“So did you join the adventuring guild to adventure Alex?” I asked.
“Of Course! My parents were both adventures so I grew up with stories of the places they visited: Floating islands, infinitely deep canyons, flaming mountains, forests with trees bigger than castles. I always wanted to be an adventurer, and last year I set out to start with my friends,” Alex said his mood dropping on the last line.
“What happened to your friends?” I asked not remembering them at the bar.
“They left me behind, or more accurately I made them leave me behind. Over the year we were adventuring together it was obvious that I was the weak link. We had to pass up so many opportunities to go to fantastic lands because I wouldn’t have survived going to them. About a week ago I made them leave me here, and continue on their own adventure. My plan is to either get strong enough on my own to start adventuring again, or return to my village that isn’t too far from here.,” said Alex.
“Oh, I’m sorry that you had to waste your time on me then,” I said.
“Don’t be. The guild master made me join you in hopes that we would form a team so that I could start adventuring again. I told myself that I would try to start again, but ever since everyone else left that seems like a dream within a dream,” said Alex.
“Is it really that hard to adventure on your own?” I asked.
“Well of course adventuring is very dangerous even in a party there are dangerous monsters.”
“Most monsters avoid Treants since we have no meat.”
“You can starve.”
“I only need air, sunlight, mana, and water.”
“You can dehydrate.”
“I can go without water for about a week or two if I pace myself.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“It may take hundreds of years to see the world.”
“Treants have a very long lifespan.”
“You need the motivation to explore the world.”
“...”
“So what you’re saying is that Treants are basically the perfect adventures, but none of them want to?” asked Alex.
“I think so,” I responded.
“For God’s Sake. I’m going to sleep you keep guard all night,” said Alex while he lied down.
The night passed uneventfully. In the morning when the gate opened Alex was still sleeping so I carried him inside. We entered the city, and we had to pay the toll since it was a new day. Alex was still sleeping when we arrived at the adventurer’s guild. I laid down Alex by the receptionist and turned in the request. With the bonus for killing a hobgoblin I had a total of 10 silver and 4 copper to my name. Alex would get his compensation when he woke up. So I left him there to go and see Smith.
When I opened the door to Smith’s shop I was met with his angry voice. “About time you showed up! I was starting to think you were dead!” said Smith bluntly.
“Good to see you to,” I said having learned how to deal with Smith from Herold.
“So just why are you late?” asked Smith.
“I was sent on a training mission by the guild master,” I responded.
“Oh, that means you have more money right? In that case it will now be 5 silver for your instrument,” said Smith.
“Hey! That’s not fair. You can’t charge me more because I have more money now!” I yelled.
“Do you really think that 1 or even 5 silver can buy an instrument? Get real. Herold is paying for the instrument on your behalf. The least you can do is take some burden off that old man,” said Smith.
“Herold was doing something like that for me? I didn’t know that he was such a good guy,” I said
I handed over 5 silver coins and Smith gave me a small case. I quickly and carefully opened it up to find its riches.
“It’s a trumpet with a livingwood mouthpiece. Your lucky I had some livingwood to make that,” said Smith.
“Do I need to use livingwood for all of my wind instruments?” I asked. It would get very annoying to have to get custom orders all all of my wind instruments.
“Well...you should. It is possible to play with a metal mouthpiece, but it is far better for a Treat to use a wooden mouthpiece. You're really lucky that I know that kid. I once met a Treant instrument maker that told me about that little tid bit,” said Smith.
The case had one other circular piece of metal in it so I picked it up. “What’s this for?” I asked.
“Oh right! Thats for tuning. It has holes around the side. When you blow into each hole it creates a pich. You then use that pitch to tune your instrument. I don’t know for sure, but that might affect your songs,” said Smith.
After a brief lesson on how to tune my trumpet and lute I didn’t need to learn how to tune my flute since it was made of living wood. After that I went to look for Herold. I was lucky to find Herold at the fountain again. He showed me how to play the trumpet with more of those stupid scales. I kept playing and at the end of the day someone threw a copper coin at my feet. Some people would take that as disrespectful. As if I was a beggar that needed the money. But I was so happy that someone spared a coin for my music even though it was still so bad.
New Song: Song of Reserve
After I gained this song I went into deep thought trying to figure out what causes me to gain all of these songs. I tried to find the connection, but gave up since I didn’t even know the effects of all my songs. It was getting late again so I bid Herold farewell and left for the adventurer's guild. There are so many things I have to get done and so little time.
(Contest: I have 42 songs planned for Odis to learn. Whoever can guess 5 of the songs titles first wins. Enter your guesses in the comments; you can make up to 42 guesses in each comment; I will not accept songs I have already revealed as guesses. Once I see someone has won I will comment on the winner and private message them. The prize will be answering any one question with total honesty, or effecting the story in some small way: naming a character, having Odis learn a song sooner, going to some special place, etc. If there is no correct guess in 48 hours I will post a hint. Let the games begin.)
P.S. Sorry this didn't go up at the time I said. There were unforeseen issues.