The Only Advice We Take Is Our Own
Conrad left the Adventurer’s Guild hall and headed for The Down, hoping to catch Mara so that they could deal with Camilla’s things at the mortuary together. The red brick of the buildings around him took on a different feel now that he had the status of a true adventurer. It felt homey where before the city had always been a place he visited from his real home, now it was the home he would return to from adventuring.
The constant hubbub of people going about their day to day routines while beneath them men and women fought desperately for their lives and a chance at wealth created a surreal bubble of worlds that, for Conrad, was suddenly intoxicating in a way he hadn’t been able to experience while being manipulated by the original Seekers. He was looking forward to finding The Tower and completing his massive list of quests more than any job or collection of jobs he had ever taken up in his life.
The thought began to take shape as he entered The Down and was acknowledged by all the bouncers and barkeeps who would have refused him service back when he was an NPC. He hadn’t just changed, he had been reborn.
And he had been reborn for this.
He found Mara relaxing, reading a book and sipping coffee at the window of her inn.
“Didn’t know adventurers could read,” he said.
Mara looked up, golden blond curls shifting, “What’s the matter, C? Never met a girl with a brain before?”
“I’ve met pretty women, dangerous women, and smart women, but never all three,” Conrad said,
She smiled, ready to enjoy the game, “Course not, we gotta pick two. Just how the rules work ‘round here.” She gestured to an open chair at her table and Conrad sat down.
“So you picked smart and…?”
“Smart? What, ‘cause of this?” She held up the book and winked, Breakthroughs in the Arcane: A History of Unconventional Class and Skill Discoveries, “I can’t make heads nor tails of it, I just like the way the letters look. All curly and cute with all that decoration for the first one in the chapter.”
She flipped the book to show him pages dense with text and diagrams, but indeed there was a decorated letter starting the page.
“Says a bit more about you than me though,” she teased, “that you think reading a book means a girl is smart.”
“Damn,” Conrad said, “Got me. So it’s smart and dangerous then. Noted.”
She covered her mouth in mock indignation, “You mean all those nice things you said about how I looked last night weren’t true?”
“That’s just what we call pillow talk, baby,” Conrad said and immediately put his arms up to defend himself from her teasing slaps.
“You devil! What’re you even doing out here this morning? I thought you’d be visiting mom and dad,” Mara said.
“Done. Came to see you,” he lowered his voice and got serious, “you asked me to set aside some things of Camilla’s. If you’re up to it, I wanted to take care of that.”
“Oh,” Mara said, “That.”
She stood up and dropped a few coins on the table, “Let’s get to it then.”
Conrad joined her and they headed out for the mortuary. Along the way he told her about meeting up with Troy and how he had promised to mention his plan to her.
“Stupid,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Conrad asked.
“Guess you picked pretty and dangerous, C, ‘cause you’re not too bright picking up all those mercenary quests. Those things can turn real ugly.”
Conrad fluttered his eyes, “You think I’m pretty?”
“Shut up, I mean it!” she said, “You’re new to all this. People get killed adventuring, Conrad, I don’t even know why we call it that ‘cause it's more like gambling. But the only stakes are life and limb. So if you wanna keep playing you gotta stack the deck and don’t even take a seat at the table so you’re better ready to run when that bad hand gets played.”
“I didn’t take you for a gambler,” trying to evade the lecture.
“We’re all gamblers,” she continued, “But there’s gambling and there’s gambling. We take our licks down in the dungeon, sure, Camilla’s a better lesson in that than you’re likely to get anywhere, but out in the Chaos Lands, going up against other adventurers...”
Conrad listened to her, in her words and her way, explain to him the same challenges that Troy had.
They weren’t lying. They both believed it and were completely sincere in their attempts to keep him safe. But the irony of it was almost more than Conrad could handle. Don’t risk your life out on mercenary contracts where it’s dangerous! Come risk your life in the dungeon, where it’s also dangerous! Oh, and let me explain this as we go to loot the body of my friend who just died in the dungeon.
It was becoming clearer that Mara and Troy were people he could come to trust and count on, but like with anything, Conrad knew he was going to have to get into the thick of it and learn his own lessons.
Sometimes learning came easy, but sometimes it came hard. He didn’t think he could have had a harder introduction to adventuring than what he had been through as a slave to the Seekers and so, despite what these people were telling him, he knew this wouldn’t be any different. No worse.
How could it be?
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They greeted the kindly Mortician in the entrance area of his shop and he knew immediately why they were there.
“I have already had the remaining items and gold appraised at a total value of thirty-eight gold, twenty silver,” he said, “if you don’t wish to have your own appraisal done, then I’ll take my fee from the gold itself and leave the items and remaining money to you.”
Conrad glanced at the box of items, meticulously organized and displayed with utmost respect to the dead. The man was a good sort, running a clean business and it made haggling or mistrust feel inappropriate. Mara looked to Conrad for approval and he nodded. The Mortician withdrew his gold from the pouch of money in the box and carefully replaced it before sliding the whole set over to them.
“Thank you for your patronage,” he said, extending his hands in which he held a small jewelry box, “Red. As requested, miss. I took the liberty of adding a small memorial epitaph. No charge.”
Mara took the jewelry box and opened it, revealing a beautifully cut red gemstone. Conrad used Identify.
Memorial Gemstone
Camilla Tollehd, age 23
Rogue
Adventurer and dear friend. Rest as you lived - well, full, and cherished.
[Reveal Camilla’s stats and achievements?]
Dabbing a tear from her eye Mara thanked the man and gave him a full hug. Conrad lifted the box of items and the two of them left the shop.
“Don’t make us do this again for you, C,” she said and squeezed his arm, “Taking a shine to you.”
She reached into the box and pulled out a small notebook.
“So what is it?” Conrad said.
“Just a notebook,” Mara answered, “Camilla did some time with a group of archaeologists. You know, the types who explore old ruins and search for ancient magics and the like.”
She flipped through some pages and Conrad caught a few images. A ruin, but with something that had sort of grown around it. It was gone before he could see more and suddenly, a quest prompt appeared to him.
Quest
The Ruin
Camilla’s notebook is a treasure trove of small details relating to magical history and discoveries. But in its pages lay mysteries that remain yet unsolved. Discover the origin of the drawings of the ruin and travel there.
Reward: 250XP
Bonus Reward: Questline related to the discovery.
“The funny thing though,” Mara was saying, “When she showed it to me I got a natural quest from Order about finding a ruin.”
“Yeah,” Conrad said, “I think I just got the same one.”
“You’re kidding me?” Mara said, “Well this is too perfect! Abandon those mercenary quests and let's go on a real adventure!”
It was tempting. The quest was intriguing and, Conrad noted, he hadn’t gotten a natural quest since before he was put under the contract with the Seekers. But it could wait. His parents’ problem, the problems of the people on the outskirts of Edge and in the nearby Chaos Lands, those could not wait.
“Raincheck,” he said.
Mara sighed and stopped him. She rummaged through Camilla’s things until she found a small pin. The exact type of pin he had seen that morning at the Guild hall.
“You know what this is?” she asked, and he nodded. It was a Gold variant, so at some point Camilla too had opted into the Gold tier of the guild and bought the pin with her points.
“Troy is stubborn and won’t commit us to helping you out, and he’s right, but if you get into trouble out there you activate this pin and we’ll come running just as soon as we can. You understand?”
She pinned it to his chest, not waiting for a reply, “Stay safe, Conrad Dren. And get stronger. Gonna need you at your best when we take on that ruin quest.”
She waved and jogged off, leaving Conrad standing there with the rest of Camilla’s items. He glanced into the box and noted a few potions that would be useful, some money, but for the most part he decided he could sort through it properly later. He sent the whole box into his inventory.
His inventory had advanced to level four proficiency with constant use, and now automatically sorted and categorized items. Looking everything over, plus the gold, he figured he could earn a little bit more of a profit on what he had left in his inventory and then see about getting a slightly different kit for taking on the Chaos Lands and The Tower.
Over the next hour or so he haggled around at different merchants, casting Market Sense liberally and figuring out where the best places were to buy and sell. In the back of his mind he considered what he might need out there.
His chitin plate armor had been excellent protection down in the Warren Dungeon, but with constant use it was growing worn out and cracked in places. None of the craftsmen in Edge had the skills for working with chitin so this was it, and he had already given up the other suits he had found either to tales or to his parents to sell in their shop. All that plus it was fairly clunky and while easier to move in than heavy armor made of iron or steel, it was still more of a hindrance than even a steel plated brigandine.
Growing up he had spent a fair bit of time roaming around the safer parts of the Chaos Lands, if any part could be called safe with all of the potential for monster encounters. He felt like he knew what to expect, at least close to the city, and his biggest concern was going to be maximizing protection while also maintaining high mobility.
The biggest threats tended not to be individual, random monsters, but rather stumbling onto monster dens and not getting away quickly enough. And if Mara and Troy’s ominous warnings about going up against other adventurers were anything to go by, then it made sense that he would want a kit that allowed him the greatest versatility, especially considering he wouldn’t have a team to help make up for any of his shortcomings.
That meant he had to allocate a portion of his funds not just for new gear, but also potions, provisions, and various items he might need while traveling including a bedroll, fire starting kit, and even basic cookware. Not to mention a general map of the lands surrounding Edge which the shopkeeper who sold it, helpfully, marked out places where the various quests Conrad intended to follow up on could be found.
When all was said and done, though he ached to see what he might be able to get with his Guild Points, Conrad felt like he was getting drawn into the world of Merchants again and, without delaying further, swapped out his chitin plate for a new set of partial chain, plate reinforced leather armor and headed for the gates.
Out beyond the node, the energy wall that protected Edge from the constant encroachment of monsters and all enemies of Order, the Chaos Lands awaited.