The patrol was uneventful, as for the most part were the subsequent ones, until our contract with Winters Rise Manor was over and a squad from The Tranquil Custodian Mercenary Company arrived to take over our duties."
By that time while Lord Albert Messenger hadn’t fully recovered from whatever had been ailing him and probably never would he had fully regained consciousness and able to carry out his duties as Lord of Winters Rose Manor. Though for how long this state of affairs would last was unknown, he was after all an old man. As for the two cousins well one of them or perhaps both of them will likely still end up as Ashley’s Guardian when Albert finally kicks the bucket.
Though perhaps this time mercenaries will not be involved in trying to determine the eventual outcome or at the very least it will in no way involve the Ebony Hyenas or any future mercenary company I might belong to. Well for now it looks like The Tranquil Custodian Mercenary Company will be the last one Albert needs to hire, for a while at least. I did learn the day before our departure that the two cousins had paid each other ransoms and had been released.
Mission: Ransom Agreement Completed
Your class rank has increased to 11, 2 Free Stat Points and an extra Class Skill slot awarded
I suddenly developed the worst headache imaginable and then it slowly got worse and worse until I passed out for nearly an hour. After I had retained conciseness I viewed my Status Screen and put my two free stat points into Intelligence and Charisma and since I had no banked skills my free skill slot would have to wait for later. While I didn’t feel any different I felt that something had changed though I couldn’t figure out what, not yet anyway.
On our return journey instead of heading directly to our camp outside Maccleston we took a detour to pay a visit to the city of Whitdale where the captain had some business to take care of. Late on the fifth day of our journey, we arrived on the outskirts of the city where we camped outside the small village of Dukinbury. An hour after we had made camp the captain gathered us together to have a word with us.
“Alright men I have business to take care of in the city, it shouldn’t take longer than two to three days. This should allow anyone who wishes to pay a visit to the city to do so but not all of you at the same time unfortunately. Those of you from squads with an even number can visit tomorrow and those from one with an odd number the day after. Within the walls of the city, I want all of you to be on your best behaviour and whatever day you visit I want everyone back here before dark.
For those of you who might not have visited a city before then, you might not be familiar with the City Watch that enforces the rule of law within the city which they do almost religiously. I do not wish for any of you to fall foul of them and if any of you do while I will pay any fines you might accrue I will be taking the funds out of your future pay so be warned. And if it goes beyond mere fines I am afraid there is likely nothing I can do so be warned.
The Guild has a chapter in the city and I recommend that you all pay a visit to it. It is mainly used for lords in the surrounding area to place contracts but it also has many of the other features of the guild though perhaps on a smaller scale than the Maccleston chapter. There are also chapters of the other Guilds, many other sights worth seeing plus many bars and other drinking establishments to visit. Please try not to get too drunk and under no circumstances are you to disgrace the honour of the Ebony Hyenas Mercenary Company, is that Understood.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“What was that, I didn’t hear you?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“That’s better, now I have arranged for the village to supply the camp with a cask or two of Beer tonight and I suggest you use this opportunity to get drunk so that you get it out of your system, you're dismissed.”
When I awoke the following morning I was one of the only ones without a hangover in the squad, nee the company, having only drank a single glass of beer the previous evening. As one of the even-numbered squads in the Company, we would be allowed to visit the city today but before allowing them to head out I had a few words to say to them, though not before Lieutenant Bracton had one with the whole Platoon that but the fear of Telondian into them about not disgracing the Platoon or the Company during their visit to the city.
“Alright members of Fourth Squad you’ve all just heard what the lieutenant had to say and I’m sure you won’t let him, the captain, me or yourselves down. A city of this size is bound to play host to a sizeable number of members of the Hidden Guild so be careful of your purse and try not to commit any crimes and whatever you do don’t get caught doing so. I’d also advise you to stick together as best you can or at least pair up at all times and don’t be late back. Now at the same time I want you all to have fun and enjoy yourselves, you're dismissed.”
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My purpose in visiting Whitdale was distinct from that of those under me, while they went to have fun I like the captain had some business to attend to. I had a number of empty Skill slots that I wanted to fill and a budget to pay for them that while by no mean extravagant was hopefully more than enough to get me something good, if I was lucky enough to stumble onto something that suited me that is. I had two empty Class skill slots and a Professional one as well and I was hoping to fill at least one of them or at the very least discover how to gain something naturally.
I first visited the city's Mercenary Guild Chapter, a much more impressive-looking building than the one in Maccleston though not much bigger than it. They didn’t unfortunately have all that much is a larger selection of skills and Quick Shot, the only one I had any interest in wasn’t within my current budget thought perhaps that might change sometime soon.
While I was there I had a look to see if there were any vacancies for lieutenant positions not that I was planning to leave the Hyenas any time soon. There wasn’t a single one unfortunately but the Fierce Kats were looking for a new captain though it didn’t mention what had happened to the last one.
After that, I paid a visit to the Hunters Guild but they had even fewer skills available though their prices were more reasonable. I almost bought a skill called Targeted from them but I remembered that a similar but much better Skill existed and decided it would be better to wait and hope I might come across it one day.
Then I visited The Foreign Adventures Guild but they had even less on offer though I did spot one class skill that I ended up buying for just under Five Gold.
Riposte (Basic)
Costs: 10 Stamina - Cool-Down: Ten Seconds
Improve your chances of returning an attack you just parried, upon your enemy and the damage caused.
My last visit to a Guild that day was to the Merchant Adventurers Guild and while they didn’t have all that many skills to sell they did have information for sale on how to go about learning a skill naturally and I spent most of the rest of the money I had budgeted for buying skills to learn how I might go about learning two different skills, a Class one and the other a professional one. It would take a while for me to gain these skills, the Professional one more so than the Class one but I now knew how to do it which was fine by me.
There were of course other smaller, less well-known Guilds, some of which even had a presence in the city, that might have a skill I could use but they only sell them to their members and I didn’t qualify.
Before I had to return from my excursion to the city I still had some time to kill so I paid a visit to the main market in the city to see what it had to offer. I made a few purchases and was about to leave when I spotted something interesting in a small stall that sold herbs and spices.
“Nutelos Grass, an interesting herb, with only one use I know of.”
“Give you the runs.”, stated the woman operating the stall.
“Make that two.”
I bought her entire supply of the grass as well as some Bajae Root to help me with the hangover I planned to have in the morning.
I then had another quick look at my Status Screen.
STATUS SCREEN
Name: Niel Ryder
Age: 24
Race: Human
Level: 16 (44%)
Active Class: Warrior
Class Rank: 12 (6%)
Profession: Mercenary (E Rank)
Professional Level: 8 (75%)
Factions: Ebony Hyenas Mercenary Company
Health Points: 340/340
Stamina Points: 346/360
Magic Points: N/A
Stats:
Agility 17
Charisma 15
Constitution 17
Dexterity 20
Endurance 18
Intelligence 15
Luck 11
Perception 16
Strength 19
Wisdom 13
Free Points 0
Titles:
Child Prodigy, First Slayer of Mibritum (Human), Horse Lord, Traveler (Second Generation)
Free Skills:
Carpentry (Basic 57%), Climbing (Apprentice 10%), Cooking (Journeyman 45%), Farming (Basic 67%), Firestarter (Apprentice 90%), First-Aid (Apprentice 60%), Shelter (Apprentice 64%), Swimming (Apprentice 66%)
Skills: (18/18)
Animal Care (Journeyman 42%), Animal Calls (Basic 31%), Black Smithing (Basic 63%), Cold Resistance (Journeyman 08%), Crafting (Apprentice 2%), Dancing (Journeyman 30%), Detect Lies (Basic 23%), Haggling (Journeyman 7%), Heat Resistance (Basic 70%), Herbalist (Apprentice 1%), Horse Riding (Master 54%), Hunting (Journeyman 4%), Identify (Journeyman 36%), Pain Tolerance (Basic 66%), Scribe (Apprentice 19%), Stealth (Apprentice 26%), Trapping (Apprentice 52%), Unarmed Combat (Journeyman 39%)
Class Skills: (21/22)
Archery (Journeyman 27%)), Axe Throwing (Apprentice 21%), Balance (Journeyman 15%), Block (Journeyman 22%), Daze (Apprentice 70%), Double Handed (Basic 99%), Feint (Apprentice 16%), Knife Fighting (Apprentice 91%), Light Armour (Journeyman 20%), Mounted Archery (Apprentice 42%), Mounted Combat (Apprentice 60%), Muscle Memory (57% Basic), One-handed Weapons (Apprentice 19%), Parrying (Apprentice 75%), Riposte (Basic 0%), Shield Work (Apprentice 39%), Stick Fighting (Apprentice 20%), Lance Mastery (Apprentice 58%), Sword Mastery (Journeyman 19%), Two-handed Weapons (Apprentice 49%), Unseat Rider (Basic 72%)
Professional Skills: (15/16)
Battle Instincts (Apprentice 41%), Drill (Journeyman 5%), Fatigue Duty (Apprentice 34%), Long March (Basic 37%), Map Reading (Apprentice 62%), Melee Fighting (Apprentice 47%), Night Vision (Apprentice 54%), Patrolling (Apprentice 61%), Sentry Keeping (Apprentice 69%), Shock Tactics (Apprentice 14%), Siegecraft (Basic 88%), Roll Call (Journeyman 44%), Scouting (Apprentice 78%), Screening (Basic 47%), Tracking (Apprentice 57%)
Skill: Herbalist (Basic) => Herbalist (Apprentice)