41. CONTRACTS: WIREMU

I explored what this local Guild could offer while I was here as I had some ideas about what I wanted to learn. I really wanted to learn Weapon Repair and Leather Armour Repair, but there were no Guild Trainers in that. I would have to negotiate with the local crafters. I had seen what a benefit they were to Branik and the Mother’s Tusks. I would go back to Sølv for Weapon Repair, and the crafters making my armour for Leather Repair and see what I can learn.

Small Blades, Spear and Throwing Weapons are my go-to weapon skills. The Small Blades and Throwing Weapons trainer was the same person, but the Spear Trainer was out on contract and expected back sometime in the next month. I would have to ask the members if I wanted training. There was an internal board for members to advertise training where I could advertise to train any skills I had that were at least Journeyman level. I would need to demonstrate my competence to the guild before they would let me advertise for the small fee of a silver for a month. My hunting skills were all in demand apparently. I had never trained anybody and was not ready to do that, so I declined for now.

I booked a two-hour session with the Small Blades and Throwing Weapons instructor. This wasn’t as enlightening as the Bow instruction I had received in Yelets. I guess the skills were at a higher level, and there was less to teach me. I got some small tips, and Throwing Weapons went up, but overall I didn’t think it was worth it. The instructor was also too interested in where I got my stone darts from. I said I got them from a merchant in the Nystad Empire.

I browsed the contracts available, and there were several I could take as a solo operator with hunting skills. Mostly around pest extermination. They didn’t pay a lot, but it would build my reputation with the Guild and give me experience. I would consider it when my armour was ready.

I went back via the Sølv Emporium. Yes, they had training available for Weapon Repair as that was a service they offered mercenaries. It would cost me three silver for the first day’s training and then a silver a day until I got to Apprentice level. Then they would pay me on a piece-by-piece basis if I wanted to continue working. Most people got the skill on the first day, and if I didn’t, then she advised me to give it up as it would show I had no aptitude for it. There were no refunds. I booked in for the following day and was told to report to their smithy on the Ninth street at 7am.

I went to the Leather Armourer, and the arrangement was similar, but the fee was a gold a day for the first two days and then 5 Silver a day till Apprentice level. Armour was more complicated and especially as I asked for the skills to repair monster armour. I booked in for the following week.

Working in a smithy, I was glad of the ability to control my hearing. I spend most of the day grinding and sharpening blades of various types. I was shown how to repair and change wooden handles and leather grips. Different oils were used for various metal types; some blades needed heating first and then retempering. I was told about the care of some Spiritually imbued blades and how to take care when working near runes and enchantments. I was not allowed to touch any of those. I did get the skill and levelled it to 2. They said to come back, and by the end of the week, I had a good chance of hitting the Apprentice level. Apparently, the sales lady at the Emporium was overselling the numbers that got the skill. Over half never finished the day’s work.

I decided to complete the week at the smithy. I had the money and nothing else pressing. It will supplement my income if I am ever in a tight spot or perhaps if I need to masquerade as a Smithy Worker. To get me over the hump to the Apprentice Level, I got to work on a Deep Iron alloy blade under strict supervision. I purchased a portable repair kit from them for use on the road but said I would be back for some contract work in between other contracts.

Tabitha had started work at this point and was basically training under their Journeyman Merchant for the first week. She would then spend a solid week with the security head before starting her roster. She was now wearing smarter clothes and looked like a successful merchant. She would go riding most evenings after work and not get back till well after dark. Some nights she was significantly later than others. I didn’t ask.

I took a day off after the week at the smithy, and Pip, Rocky and I went to explore the area and maybe hunt. My new bow wasn’t ready yet and wouldn’t be for another week. Something about glues and materials soaking in alchemical solutions. We hunted a mountain goat, and I skinned it, and we had goat for dinner. We weren’t feeding a bunch of dwarves, and Velikan was not here, so we had way too much meat. I made some jerky but then sold the rest to the nearest butcher. The butcher was very enthusiastic and would take anything I would bring him.

The Leather Armour Repair went similar to the Weapon Repair, except there was a much greater variety of different types of leather and styles of armour. Some came with chainmail sections and buckles and studs. There were different things to look for in each of the different pieces. I only got the Leather Repair Skill at the end of the third day. At the end of the week, it was only at level 3, but that was sufficient for now. My new armour was available mid-week, and I took extra time going through the care and maintenance of that.

Working alongside a Leather Worker, I learned why my hide armour was starting to fall apart. It is because I didn't cure it properly. I hadn’t worn any of it except my cloak since getting decent clothes in Jern. Most of it was only fit for the rubbish. My cloak was looking much worse for wear as well. I really liked that wolf skin cloak. I purchased the right solutions from them and was going to make a new cloak that would last. I practised curing the goat hide first.

When I finally heard my bow was ready, I packed up for a week of hunting. Staying in town was getting to me, with people everywhere. I got three simple mercenary contracts for pest extermination, and Rocky, Pip and I headed out.

The first contract was for a cluster of farms about a day and a half ride from Jern. We took our time. On the first day, we camped, and I spent the next day practising with my new bow. It took a while to adjust to the bow's additional power. I was pretty sure I could get the Skill Longbow if I pushed it with Spiritual Strength. I would do that in due course, but what I really wanted was the Skill Triple Shot. I was pretty sure Triple Shot and Venom Arrow would work together. My first Hunt Master didn’t have Triple Shot but described it as duplicating the physical arrow with two spiritual arrows. The main attribute was Spiritual Agility. This tripled the hitting power. I thought that if the two extra arrows were spiritual, then Venom Arrow could also poison them. I didn’t get anywhere that day with all my practice and hunting, but I would keep working on it.

A large cat predator was stalking the farmers. They had lost two sheep and a dog. I stabled Rocky in one of their barns to be safe, and Pip and I went hunting that night. We picked up the trail but then lost it. We had better luck the second night when I got an arrow in it, and that was mostly that. This hunting at night with Darksight is fantastic. I can see why Tabitha went straight for it. I can use my bow at night. It will be much better when I get it to the Apprentice level, but I am happy with my choice now.

I skinned the cat, and one of the farmers wanted to keep the skin, so I sold it to him cheaply. They signed off my contract as complete for the Guild to pay me out. The next contract was another day's ride away, but we took two as I saw elk tracks, and we detoured. We didn’t catch the elk, but we did get a deer. The range on my new bow was fantastic.

The next contract was a nest of ground rats. They would eat and chew through everything. They nested underground. This was a classic trapping scenario, and I had brought some traps for this. Pip and Bond Senses helped me find the main burrows. And we set the traps near the entrances. Usually, this would then involve days or weeks of repetitive clearing and resetting of traps. However, this time I stayed by the traps and cleared and reset them, and Pip went hunting in the burrows. I was having a leisurely couple of days, and Pip was making regular forays into the burrows and quite enjoying himself. Right up until the time he found the nest Mother. Then he fought a retreat towards me, and I used the Animal Bond to find them and dig down into the tunnel. Pip came out a bit worse for wear, but the nest mother was staggering from the poison and the fight. I finished her with a thrown rock dart. Then Pip went back to feast on the young, and the nest was no more. I dug to expose the breeding area, and the farmer signed off on our contract.

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The next contract was another two days away. It was kind of semicircular around Jern. This was another predator, a bear, probably. This bear was different. It was much more cunning than an ordinary bear, and when I found it, it was larger than a black bear should be. I am assuming it had found a dead monster or more than one and had been feasting on it. The Spiritually enhanced monster flesh had been changing it.

This fight was different. I put a Venom arrow in it first to slow it down, but it didn’t slow much and charged me. I abandoned my bow for my spears. I danced and dodged around it, looking for a good killing blow. I took several hits on my new armour for my trouble. The thing is, I didn’t want to ruin the pelt with lots of holes as all I could see when I looked at it was my new cloak. It finally dodged my spear, bit down on my forearm, and drew blood through the armour. That will teach me to mess about and not take it seriously. Its jaws went right to the bone. I got my other hand with one of my stone knives and stabbed it in the throat, but while it was bleeding out, it was doing its best to rip my arm off. Pip bit its face, and I stabbed again with the knife, this time aiming up into the brain and using my new Skill Power Strike. Eventually, it stopped moving, and I prised my arm loose. Shit, that could have been a lot worse. It would have been without Granite Bones. Without Granite Bones, I probably would have died.

This was a big wake-up call for me. I was not the king of the forest. This was just a moderately enhanced beast, not a monster. If it kept feeding on monsters, It could become one, but it wasn’t one, and it almost killed me. Things can go wrong very quickly, and I should not take chances. I went back to Rocky and found some rags. I cleaned the bite marks in a nearby stream and awkwardly wrapped them tightly with the rags. I would have limited movement for a while, and my bow would not be able to be used. It was my main hand too.

I led Rocky closer to the bear and started to skin it with my offhand awkwardly. This seemed to take a long time and was nowhere near my best work. There would need to be a lot of prep work before I could cure this hide. I also cut some meat for my dinner, and then Pip and I looked around to see if we could find what it had been eating. Even if all the flesh had gone, monster bones have a lot of value, and there might be a monster core just lying there for the taking.

We tracked the bear to a cave entrance. There we found evidence of what it had been eating. There were bodies and bones scattered all around. They were humanoid and about the size of an 8-year-old child. Goblins. There was a goblin horde in the cave system somewhere, and the bear had been feasting on the goblins that came to the cave entrance. Probably outlying goblins of the horde. The bear could easily take down five to ten goblins and then feast. It looked like it had been happening for weeks. My Monster Lore, as taught by Koza, told me a female goblin could have a litter of around ten every 4-6 months or so. Every 200 or so goblins would come from a Shaman who had a Monster Core and enhanced them spiritually. A goblin Chief could have 50 or more Shamans under him. That is 10,000 goblins. It is probably less because of a lack of food in the caves, but it may not be. A 10,000-strong goblin horde is a threat to a city like Jern. The goblins will just scale the walls like they are not there. I am sure there are defences in the walls or just outside them or both, but it is still a threat. I needed to get the word back to Jern.

Hearing Aid was the first to pick up the sound of approaching goblins. The cave narrowed about 10m in, and that was my chance to bottleneck them and hope it was just a scouting party like the bear seemed to kill. I had a stone knife in my off-hand, and my good hand was throbbing from the bear bite and wouldn’t be much use. I doubted I could get to Rocky fast enough, and if I didn’t keep them bottled-necked, I would be swarmed.

Goblin weapons were simple. Speed, claws and teeth. Shamans would also have some Spiritual Skill or skills. Then the goblins were there. They didn’t just come along the floor, but the walls and ceiling too. The knife, even in my off hand, would rip through them, but they kept coming. One leapt off the roof to my back. It was Pip’s job to get them off my back, as I couldn't stop. A venom strike in the face worked. That wasn’t the only one that jumped on my back.

I would be dead without my new armour, and I would be dead without Darksight. Granite Sense could tell where the goblins were when they were touching the rock but not what they were doing or going to do. My damaged arm wasn’t useless as I had to touch a goblin, and I could send a Granite Spike into them. It would be a hundred times better to wield a knife.

I was cautious with using Skill as this could be a long fight, and I needed to conserve as much energy as possible. I was wondering how I could block the tunnel long enough to get away. There was a Granite Wall, but my Stats were too low. And my spare seven attribute points weren't enough. I concentrated for a moment and created a ring of spikes around the tunnel. That gave me a breather, and then the next row of goblins just climbed through them. The energy cost of the ring was not worth the two-second breather I got. I was bleeding in other places where they had gotten through the armour. Pip was starting to get low on venom.

I could really use Branik and her shield right now. Could I make a shield from Granite? The answer was yes, with a point in Spiritual Strength and only because I had a shitload of Physical Strength. I had no shield Skills. How could I hold it with a damaged forearm? I could encase my forearm in Granite, and then I wouldn’t have to hold it and could use my upper arm to move it. I needed to do something.

Wow, that took a ton of energy, but my shield is blocking the floor and sides leaving a gap at the top, which I move the shield to and crush a goblin and then back to get the one sneaking under. It is heavy. I didn’t create it with a smooth surface but with a grid of spikes on the front. I am bashing the spikes into the goblins. I trigger a Power Strike, and it works, too, but I mostly use my Physical Strength. My boots are taking a beating, and the occasional goblin is getting over the top, but it is essentially a rest from what I was doing. I can often get the goblins going over with my knife, so Pip is resting as well. It feels strange with the shield in my main hand and the knife in my off-hand, but it is working for now.

When I start to get pushed back, I Power Strike or Quick Strike forward again. Something is changing on the other side, but I can't see through my shield and Granite Sense is confusing. Then Granite Sense flares a warning, and I bash forward just as a rock spike stabs up where I am standing. Shit, it must be a Goblin Shaman with some rock skills.

Then my Shield takes a big hit, and I am pushed back, and the top left side of the shield breaks off. I see a massive stone club, and I know where the Shaman is. I sent three Granite Spikes into the area. One of them scores a hit, and he bellows. I don’t wait and Power Strike forward again, hoping to keep him off balance. I am sucking through the energy. Pip slips onto the ground and moves forward, hunting the Shaman. The only way forward is to kill the Shaman. I glimpse him through the gap in my shield. He is about my size, a slightly large human. That hit that damaged my shield must have been a skilled strike. I had been practising my throwing with my off hand and so I threw the knife and sliced his cheek open. I only had darts in reach of that hand now and started throwing them when the opportunity showed itself. I kept pushing forward toward him.

Pain lances through my back as a goblin lands on it, piercing through the Troll Leather. I reach back and grab an arm and yank him off. The Shaman bellows again, and I sense through our bond that Pip has struck. He has sunk to one knee, and I reach him, and Power Strike his head with my spiked shield, and it splatters his brains across the tunnel wall. The remaining goblins turn to flee when their connection to the Shaman breaks. I sink to my knees as well. If a goblin had stayed, they could have killed me.

When I get a little strength back, I go to look at the Shaman. He is not overly strong or tough. About the same as I am. His strength is in the horde. If I hadn’t been able to keep them bottled in the tunnel, I would be dead. If I hadn't experienced the long fight against the Mountain Troll with Koza, I would not have paced myself and would be dead. If it wasn’t for Pip…. Well, there are a lot of things to be thankful for.

I grabbed my skinning knife and dug the Monster Core from the Shaman. This was my first time seeing one, and it was small in the palm of my hand. I would Identify it later. I grabbed the shaman's body to take as evidence and sell. We would ride straight to Jern, riding through the night.

We stopped at the first creek to get the worst of the blood off and try to clean the wounds. I grabbed some herbs I had to help with healing and fight infection and ate them with some jerky as we rode.