Trystan yawns and idly rubs away some of the grit in the corner of his eyes as he slowly steps down the stairs towards the main room of the Inn. He had actually gotten a decent night’s rest last night, not having to worry too much about keeping safe while he was sleeping, but he feared this might be the last good night’s rest he got for quite some time. His clothes were cleaned but didn’t seem to be fully repaired, just a few of the smaller tears and cuts, but that wasn’t too much of an issue, he could always get more clothes, or pull them from his bag later.
The room below was fairly empty, at least of other humans, apparently, not many people wanted to get up at sunrise anymore. He shrugs mentally, which means he’d get the fresher food at least. Reaching the counter he places down some silver and looks to the barmaid, “Whatever you have available for breakfast would be great.” He gives her a smile as she brings out a large plate full of eggs, bread, cheese, and some slices of grilled ham.
“Looks delicious, thank you.” He says as he takes a large bite out of the warm fresh bread, before devouring the rest of the food. ‘So much better than rations.’ he thinks to himself as he finishes up the plate.
Looking to the Barmaid again he motions her a bit closer, “So, I’m looking to do some traveling out to Riverside. Would you happen to know of anyone who has some quests needed for out that way? Travel missions or whatnot?”
The Barmaid thinks for a moment, “I think that the local blacksmith is looking for protection going out to the village of Glenfer out in the mountains along the route to Riverside. You do realize that that is a long trip though, it’s about a week just to get to Glenfer on foot, maybe less if you have a horse, but not by much. Riverside is almost a month away.” She says this with a concerned look on her face, “The Tower isn’t a safe place and even the safest way, the road has numerous dangers along the way. Don’t you think maybe you should wait a bit, maybe gain some strength before heading out?”
Trystan smiles at the Barmaid, “Afraid I can’t do that, have to meet up with some people out that way. Though you do have a point about the horse, I might need to see what’s available there. But if Glenfer is along the way, and the Blacksmith is spending coin, well that might be helpful.”
She smiles and nods back, “Well then, head to the smith and talk to Jo, tell her that Steph sent you to help with her iron request.”
Trystan nods, wipes his face on the napkin provided, and stands up. He hands her a silver, “Thank you for the help Steph.”
Trystan stands up as he finishes his meal, and taking one last look around him heads out the door. The Blacksmith wasn’t too far away from here, and she’d likely have a map for sale, one far more thorough and better drawn than the rough one he had managed to get together for the group before the Test had occurred.
As he steps out on the street, he begins walking towards the Blacksmith’s building, as they sold their items it was near the town center, but about as far as the buildings could be due to the noise, smoke, and heat that their forging caused at nearly all hours. Trystan follows the tell-tale sound of hammering on metal until he arrives at the front door of the shop. The sign above the door was almost unnecessary when he viewed the massive full plate and greatswords displayed in the window. The price being shown on the tag reminded him why so many people purchased System equipment, System equipment was about ten times cheaper than what you could pick up in any of the non-system stores, but the non-system stores charged in gold or silver, which did change up their costs a little, but still, even his copper chain shirt would have cost over five thousand silver from a blacksmith, more if it was forged by someone whose talents let them apply additional effects on it.
As Trystan opens the front door he can see piles of expensive equipment, bins and boxes off to the side with less than perfect pieces, and the few excellent pieces being held up in display above the front counter. The door rings a bell as it closes behind him and the ringing sound of metal on metal stops as a woman wearing a thick leather apron and gloves comes out holding a fairly large hammer. Her hair is hidden by a thick scarf and the scar on her face stands out clearly, one made from a blade, not fire. Trystan glances over her features as he reaches out with a hand with a smile, “Morning Jo, Steph sent me on your way to help out with your iron request.”
Jo looks down to his hand and then to hers, the thick leather gloves radiating heat and small embers of metal scattered across them still slowly cooling from their red hot state. “‘Fraid I can’t exactly shake hands right now. But I could always use some extra help.” She slowly takes off her gloves placing them on the wooden counter before walking up to him and taking an arm in her hands, gauging the size of his muscles as she glances over him briefly, “Not sure how much help you’ll be though. Seem to be lacking a bit, unless yer one of those casting sorts, then you might be okay.”
Trystan grins, “I am indeed a casting sort, but I also have some skills in sword work as well. I was told that it might be an escort job?”
Jo nods as she let’s go of his arm and goes back behind the counter, “Yep. Need some protection getting out to Glenfer, shipments haven’t been coming in and I’ve started to run out of most of the basic ores.Normally I wouldn’t worry about hiring one of ya’ll, but with the missing shipments I gotta be cautious. Payment will be 10 silver a day, so 70 silver, plus 20 silver if we run into anything dangerous. Should only be a week to get out there, I won’t pay more if you drag your feet and slow me down, but the base pay will be 70 even if you manage to reduce how long it takes us. Sound good to you?”
Trystan nods, “Sounds good to me, I’ve got an itch to start traveling as soon as possible, when would we start?”
Jo eyes him again, “Running from trouble or to trouble?” She shakes her head, “Doesn’t really matter now does it. We can leave off in an hour, I’ll get the boy to take over the shop front and go get everything packed. You can wait here, or come back in an hour.”
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With that, she turns and walks back out towards the forge yelling as she does, “Boy, ya got work that needs doing!”
Trystan smiles as he hears the sound of movement in the back, likely metal ingots hitting a bench and tools being hastily put away as a disheveled young man stumbles out of the back. The smell of burnt hair accompanies him and Trystan can see the wisps of smoke rising from the back of his head. Clearing his throat Trystan points to the back of his head while looking at the young man. The young man blinks a few times and then proceeds to pat out the small embers from his head before looking sheepishly at Jo.
“Yes Ma’am?”
“Don’t yes Ma’am me!” She nearly yells back at him, with what seems to be practiced amusement. “I’m going to be heading out to check out our supply run. This fella is going to be giving me protection, if I don’t come back hire someone to track him down, if I do come back I expect the store to be in complete working order,” She pauses for a moment, “And no fires to have happened. Don’t repeat mistakes and make sure that everyone pays, no loans, no credit.” She motions him towards the storage room on the side of the store, “Let’s review real fast, then you’re going to help me get my stuff packed.”
Trystan shakes his head slightly seeing their interplay and steps outside so as to not cause any embarrassment. He busies himself over the next hour getting supplies for the trip from the local general store, basic foodstuffs, things that would last for a bit, and the few pieces of camping gear that he hadn’t managed to stuff into his backpack. Once completed he heads back over to the blacksmiths, to find her waiting on him, a small cart with a donkey at it’s head and a small pile of supplies in the back.
“Took you long enough, you done dragging your heels, or do we need to wait for your beauty sleep?” Jo snaps off with humor in her voice.
Trystan grins, “I should be ready, I had been looking for a nice face peel, but alas all you’ve got around here is swamp mud.” He looks down at the ground as he says this and chuckles lightly.
Jo grins and shakes her head, “Smartass. Okay, well I got the cart packed, let’s head on out, going to take time to get there and the spot I’d like to stop at today will take us to the edge of traveling time.”
Trystan nods and they both start walking out towards the town gates. As they approach the gates he sees Bill standing together with a large group of humans, they appear to be arguing and then they start walking towards the center of the town again. Trystan ducks to the other side of the cart quickly, keeping it between them as he overhears snippets of their conversation.
“Damn bastard got Joe, his last message let us know who the mark was, and we know he was seen at the Wandering Inn earlier.”
Bill looks depressed as he responds, “Just leave him be guys, I already told you what happened, besides, even if he was involved with Joe’s death it would be because Joe took a risk he shouldn’t have right?”
The other men spit onto the ground, “Shaddup Bill, we all know what you did, and the only reason you’re still breathing is cause the Boss still needs you around for your particular talents. So get in line or we’ll show you what can be done without jeopardizing your abilities.”
Bill grimaces as they continue down the road and the group passes the cart. Bill’s eyes widen for a moment as he and Trystan catch each other’s eyes for a moment, but then he look away and continues walking, “Fine, let’s just get this over with, he’s probably still sleeping off yesterday at the Inn.”
Trystan breathes out a sigh of relief as they continue away from him and he and Jo make it out through the Town gates. Jo looks at him sideways, “So definitely running from trouble, well as long as you don’t bring it down on me who am I to care about such things.”
Trystan nods slowly as they start down the path towards Glenfer, there’s a bit of silence for a while before Jo speaks up again, “Got a safe camping spot about 6 hours out, if we take a break for lunch, water, and necessities but otherwise keep moving we should be able to make it prior to lights going out. Not that anywhere is completely safe, but I’ve used it on occasion and it’s fairly defensible, and hidden from the main road, so one doesn’t have to worry as much about any of the threats on the road.”
Trystan nods, “I’ve got a few pieces of equipment to help out with that as well. But always good to have a prepared spot to rest. I’ll make sure to not drag my feet on getting there.”
Jo nods as they continue down the road, only stopping a few times for food, water, and necessities, before finally arriving, right as the light started to die from the sky, at the camping spot of Jo’s choice. The spot was apparently a small cave off to the side of the road, behind a small grove of trees and large bushes, very easy to overlook if one wasn’t looking for it and didn’t know that it was right there. Tell-tale remnants of old campfires show that it wasn’t completely out of use, but nothing that appeared to be too recent.
Trystan immediately begins setting up his early warning traps around the entrance to the small cave, and looks around for a good spot to set up his tent. There wasn’t too much that could be done to keep them from being seen if anything smelled them out, or poked their head into the case itself, but he would still try to be as prepared as possible. Finally, once everything is finished being set up he sits down to enjoy a small meal of the fresh food that he has picked up.
Jo, who has remained fairly quiet up until this point finally starts speaking to him, in between mouthfuls of food she had prepared for the trip.
“So, I know yer running, but do you know where to yet?”
Trystan nods, “Having to make it out to Riverside, have family and friends who should be meeting me there and I don’t want to disappoint.”
Jo blinks at him for a moment and then slowly shakes her head, “That’s a mighty bit of traveling to be done, clear across on the other side of the country. Plenty of danger and mysteries in between here and there, you considered hiring out onto a larger traveling group to try and get there safely?”
Trystan nods, “Yeah, but bigger groups also mean larger targets, I expect a smaller group, even just me by myself, will draw far less attention than going out with a large caravan, the extra protection of the additional people doesn’t outweigh the security concerns caused by that same thing.”
Jo nods, “That might be right, so what made you decide to do an escort mission with me then?”
Trystan ponders for a moment, “Well, Steph sent me your way, smaller group, local and more likely to be trustworthy, and I do still need to earn my keep while I make my way over, I’m just going to try and be careful about what jobs I take.”
Jo smiles, “Well sounds like you have something of a plan then boy, not quite what I was expecting, but good enough answers.” She finishes off her meal, “I’ll take first watch and wake you when it’s time to switch.
She ensures that the cart and donkey are properly stowed and settled and sends Trystan off into his tent to sleep. Trystan slips into his tent and closes his eyes, falling to sleep quickly to the sound of the crackling fire and the donkey chewing on its own meal.