Ahil surveyd the horizon, his convoy was stretched for almost ten kilometers in a steady line of merchant ships bolsterd every hundred meters or so by a clump of warships with his bigger ones taking point and closing up the back, it was the only way to give any sort of defense to every ship in the group without clumping them dangerously close to each other.
Turning his eyes back to the outside perimeter he let the gait of the waves become a bacground to every other detail, without the eels or any other marine Player he wouldn't have any warning about something coming from the deep except for his comunicator using sonic wave spells to scan their immediate area, there was also a danger to sonar magic as it sometimes drew the very monsters you were looking for towards you, but at least this way he would have a warning and the monster will attack a ship that could repel it with brute force and luck.
"Something on the port side horizon captain" came the cry from the nest immediately followed with "looks like a messenger slook", the sighted ship was fast, only two of his had a chance to catch it and the port horizon meant drawing further away from shore so he made the decision to leave it before the man added "turning to meet us" before ending with "flying Kobold empirial flag".
"What could these religious fanatics want with us?" Ahil murured to himself when his com officer bolted out from the conference room.
"Captain" he cried out, "Sherpa the convoy leader asks that we meet with her and the Kobold messenger", taking a deep breath, "it seems they lost some kind of relic"
"A twisted sense of humor holds the fates", he quoted to Lua the com officer, "the admiral would have given his left eye to stand in my shoes at this moment", seeing the puzzled look Lua gave him he contiued, "the Kobolds are very rich religious fanatics", elaborating further, "whatever relic they lost would possibly be worth more than the whole convoy", seeing understanding sparkle in Lua's eye he fell silent and both men were waiting together to see what the empire had lost.
The messenger was ugly as Ahil imagined it would be, scaly hide covering a hunched body and sharp teeth filling a serpentine head, at least it wore clothes that hid most of its body from Human eyes.
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"Welcome aboard Messenger" Ahil reached his hand and the creature took it in a fingertip grip.
"I bear a tale of theft and mischief" fluffy words never impressed Ahil, "a most holy relic has been stolen" he had to suppress a yawn, "hearing of your brave deeds I had to beg your ear", no begging done here though, "should you in your travels come upon a scale cut diamond" heart thumping in his chest almost bursting out at the words, "great prizes will be given for even wind whispered tales", the creature finished but Ahil could only hear blood rushing through his brain.
"We saw the dragon" Lua said.
"Never heard of anything like that" Ahil was half a second too late.
"Where?" The messenger sounded on edge, "what is your price?" it turned to Lua ignoring the two captains glaring at each other.
When negotiations started in the game you could either play, withdraw or draw a weapon, nothing short of an act of god could halt the most basic part of the system, even death of a character would not remove the quest popups to complete the trade and now Lua shanked Ahil and tossed him in a murky pond like he was trash, never a man to be left behind Ahil forced the Kobold to add him in a two men auction arbited by the monster.
"I can show you where it drowned" Lua played his card.
"I have this", Ahil pulled a scale shaped diamond that caught the merchant's breath.
"Name your price" the Kobold repeated the ancient ceremonial words.
"I want a castle" Lua held to his first bidder position.
"I want a name" Ahil saw the Kobold hesitate and knew he was up to something.
"Who?" The creature asked.
"Name the rider in the palanquin and I will give you the location", knowing information was the most precious comodity and the rider's name could lead to finding more dragons, knowing she was a Human Player already gave Ahil power over her and if he knew her name it was easy enough to find her with that armor painted by the irremovable effect.
"She is Kyatha", the kobold didn't pause, "give me the region and I will tell you her guild"
This was a troubling question, he couldn't tell this creature why he was there when the dragon was shot, but lying will null his paticipation in the negotiations and he couldn't afford that to happen, "near the town of Thenara", he finally said and the Kobold nodded.
"She is a hunter in the AshMourn guild" the name stirring something in Ahil's memory but he needed to check to be sure, there was no room for error here, the Kobold turned and left when the last thing Ahil saw was a fist crushing into his face.