Friedrich's Haven

After saying goodbye to the wolves, they continued down towards the sea, the air becoming warmer and warmer (their jackets long since packed away) and they could feel the salt on the wind as they got nearer.

Once they were near enough, they could see below them a town on the water, with several docks, although there seemed to be barely any ships.

There was no traffic on the road they were on. As they approached the gate for this road, the guard standing there seemed surprised, and stopped them. “Did you all come over the mountain? Almost never have travelers this way.”

Kris nodded, “We've actually been sent by the guild,” Kris asserted, pulling out his guild plaque.

The guard let out a sigh of relief. “I'm glad they sent someone so quickly. I'm impressed you made it over the mountain unharmed, they must have sent someone high-level.”

Kris just smiled nervously and scratched this head, Corinne didn't screw up the quest ranking...right?

The guard called out to a different guard inside the gatehouse. “The Adventurer's the guild sent are here, I'm going to take them to see Friedrich,” he said, and the other guard came out to take his post.

“Friedrich? Like, the person the city's named after?” Mibu asked curiously.

The guard shook his head, “No, that Friedrich is this Friedrich's grandfather. It's currently run by Friedrich the third.”

As they passed through the city, the group took in the various sites.

Mibu enjoyed all the different stalls that were set up everywhere. Since Friedrich's Haven was a major port, there were goods even from foreign countries.

Paddy was having a rough time salivating at the sight of all the fish. There was so many fish stalls, with so many different kinds, she was certain she could eat a different type of fish every day and not run out for over a month.

Celica was just enjoying the weather, as the cool breeze felt wonderful against her skin (although she did feel like her eye was getting a bit dry).

Kris was too distracted to take in the sights, as his mind was racing from a particular shop he had seen. That was swimsuit shop, right!? We have to, no, we must go there before we leave. We need to have a-

His thoughts of his group in swimsuits was cut off as the guard abruptly stopped outside a shack near the water. There were several obvious repair jobs, easily identifiable by where the new wood had been nailed over older ones.

“Boss, the ones we requested for the guild are here,” the guard said, knocking on the open door's frame.

“Send 'em in, send 'em in,” came a gruff voice from inside.

They went past the guild, and met the owner of the voice. An older, wrinkled man, wearing a loose sailor's outfit and smoking on a cob pipe.

“I'm glad you made it so quickly, I didn't expect you for another week,” he said, looking them over and taking a puff off his pipe. “You use some sorta magic, or you come over the mountain?”

“The mountain,” Kris answered.

The man nodded, before walking past them. “Follow me,” he said, walking past them. He brought them to the nearest dock and started pointing with his free hand. “They usually come over the breakers and walk over, through the bay, into town,” he explained, pointing to the row of rocks on either side of the town that jutted out into the sea. “But a couple times, they've come straight the middle. Didn't even see until they were out of the water, onto the beach.” he pointed to a stretch of sand between the docks and where the wall met the breakers.

Kris nodded, thinking, Well, if they come over the breakers, that will give us time to prepare. When they come straight through the middle... he looked around at several destroyed docks and smashed up buildings nearby.

“Ships ain't coming in 'cause of them, and I'm worried it's just going to get worse. Our guards can fend off one or two, but when there's a dozen...” he shook his head, “and we've already had a few met their maker.”

A dozen!? Kris was a little worried. “Have you managed to kill any?”

“Aye,” Friedrich responded, walking a bit farther down the docks. On one was what looked like a giant, hollowed out bowl, probably a couple meters across, and a few long spindly beams next to it.

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After a couple moments, Kris had a realization, “Is that..the shell? And legs?”

Friedrich nodded, “We managed to hack off this one's legs, and then we were able to eventually smash through it's shell. It was weaker near the joints with the legs.

Kris nodded at the useful information. “Okay.”

“So, you'll help?” Friedrich asked.

Kris was a bit confused, “Of course, that's why we came.”

Friedrich broke out into a grin. “Good, good. Can I help you out at all? Can I put the guards at your disposal?”

Kris shook his head, “No, just have them protect civilians and the town, and we'll do our thing.” Kris thought for a moment, “How often do they attack?”

Friedrich shrugged, “Hard to say. Sometimes it's twice a day, sometimes a few days go by before we see them again. The guards will sound the horn when they attack.”

Kris nodded, “We'll need a room, and directions to the local blacksmith.”

Friedrich nodded, “I'll arrange it.”

After parting with Friedrich, they went their separate ways.

Mibu wanted to go peruse the stalls she had seen.

Celica wanted to go take a nap in their room.

Paddy needed to go to the blacksmith to get a new ax, and get her shield buffed out (it had a few dents from where the yeti had clobbered it), and Kris decided to tag along, as he was formulating a plan in his mind that entailed some extra weaponry.

This smithy was run by an older looking dwarf, his head bald and his beard with many streaks of gray in it. When they entered, he gave them a hearty laugh. “Haha, hello there young'uns, I don't recognize your faces.”

“We're Adventurer's guild,” Kris said.

The dwarfs face got more serious. “Ah, here about the crabs, eh? Good to see you here, then. What do you need?”

Kris motioned to Paddy, “Um, my ax got destroyed, so I need a new one. And my shield,” she unslung and showed it off, “it needs fixed.”

The dwarf grabbed the shield, raising an eyebrow. “You lost your ax?” He tapped the shield a few times, looking it over, “Not a bad shield, what in the world did you fight to get it like this?”

“A yeti.”

The dwarf looked up at her, before cracking into a smile. “You don't sound like you're lying. A yeti, eh?”

Paddy blushed a bit.

Kris affirmed, “Yes, one ambushed us on the road here.”

The dwarf tapped the crown of his head a couple times, then took the shield back. After a minute, he came back, carrying a new, shiny steel ax, similar to her old one but made of the same shiny steel.

“You know what this is?” the dwarf asked, grinning like he knew a secret he wanted to divulge.

Kris shook his head, but Paddy seemed to have a realization. “Is that...dwarfsteel?”

The dwarf chuckled, “Haha, this one knows! I made this for a bearkin back in the day, but he never came to collect it, so I've had it forever. You can have it!”

Paddy was in awe, swinging the ax a few times and inspecting it. “This is amazing!”

Kris nodded, Well, I'm worried about the price, but if Paddy likes it, “How much?”

Dwarf shook his head. “No payment necessary.”

Kris was taken aback, “We can't just not pay you.”

The dwarf walked up and put his hand on Kris's shoulder. “You know how long I've lived in this town, sonny?”

Kris thought, I know dwarves can live quite a while... “A long time?”

The dwarf nodded, “I was friends with young Friedrich's grandpappy. We were in a party together, and I joined him when he settled down here. Just take it as an extra payment for saving the village I call home.”

Kris felt a bit bad still, but decided to accept the dwarf's generosity, nodding.

“Actually,” the dwarf looked at Kris's sword. “I'll give you a free upgrade on that, too. It won't be dwarfsteel, but I promise it'll be a sight better,” he said, scrambling over to his forge. He put some metal in and asked, “What about your other party members?”

Well, I did need one for my plan. “If you could make one extra sword too, I think we'd have everything we need for the crabs.”

The dwarf grinned, then took out his hammer. “Come back in the morning and I'll have everything sorted out. Hopefully those damnable creatures don't attack before then...”

Paddy and Kris left, taking the new ax with them. As they got back to their room at the inn, Celica was cooking something in a pot inside, while Mibu was drooling looking over her shoulder.

“That smells so good...”

Paddy seemed to agree, going up behind them and looking into the pot.

Kris chuckled, setting his bag down. “What are you making?”

Celica turned her head, “Some of the townspeople gave us some free crab meat. Said it was thanks for coming to help.”

“Free crab...” Is it from that one they killed already? I guess we'll see what it tastes like.

After a few more minutes, the crab meat had been boiled, and they plated it out and started eating.

“This is amazing!” Mibu said, stuffing whole sticks into her mouth.

The rest agreed, greedily eating up their plates quickly. After they finished, they all looked at each other.

“I kinda want more...” Kris said.

Paddy quickly nodded in agreement.

“I only cooked about half...” Celica said.

Kris had an idea. “Hold on, let's get some butter.”

After sourcing some butter from a nearby stall, they got back to cooking. Kris stuck the butter in with the crab, stirring it around as it melted.

The others looked on curiously. Eventually, the butter was melted and slathered over the crab. He gave each of them a slab, and their eyes lit up.

“This is so good,” Celica said, grabbing another right out of the pan.

They quickly devoured the rest of the buttered crab, until everyone sat down on the couches, satisfied.

After a few minutes, Mibu jumped up, “Alright, it's time!” and pulled off her armor, jumping onto Kris.

Kris stopped her, blushing, “Mibu, we can't right now...”

“But it's been two days!” Mibu responded, poking his chest. The others were looking at Kris expectantly, too.

“We need to wait until we finish the request first! They could attack at any time. I promise we will after, okay? It's not like I don't want to,” he explained, trying to placate them.

Paddy and Celica nodded, and Mibu begrudgingly rolled off him, “Okay...”

Kris gave her a kiss, along with the other two, before remembering his earlier fantasy. “Actually, afterwards, I have an idea for some fun we could have...”

After refusing to elaborate, since he wanted it to be a surprise, they cuddled up with each other on the beds pushed together, and fell asleep.