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Drip-Fed – A Rivalry 31 – The Grind
🕑 Added 2024-10-30 15:40:48 +0000 UTC
Reysha placed her card on the table in front of them. “Level 29,” she reported to all of them and threw the card next to the other three on the table. All of them were iron, proof of their status within the guild. “So, guess we’re all of equal level right now?”
“Affirmative,” Aclysia said and pushed the stew in front of Reysha. Everyone was eager to witness a final proof of the Spice working. After pouring some of it into the broth and stirring twice, Reysha took a reluctant bite. When the expected flavour of stew filled her mouth, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Fucking finally!” she exclaimed. “I can eat between dungeons again.”
“Just be sparing with it,” Apexus cautioned.
“Am I the only one that finds it interesting how quick we level?” Korith asked. “Like, compared to other people? One dungeon dive and we are already 4 to 5 levels higher?”
Aclysia thoughtfully hummed, before taking a sip of her juice. She did not need food or drink, but it was nice to afford it anyhow at times. “It was a five-week dungeon dive, lest you understate that fact.”
“Y-yeah… but still?” Korith stayed on point. “Adventurers usually need... huh, I guess we did need years to get here?”
“By my estimations, it has been 2 and a half years since we met Reysha, which is an acceptable starting point to consider our adventuring career.”
“Awww, so ya do think about me.”
Aclysia bought herself time to formulate a response by taking another sip. “I am obligated to consider your actions constantly. I wish not to be dragged into trouble because you could not control yourself.”
“Someone’s gotta keep things interesting around here.” Reysha ran a hand through her hair. It had grown out considerably again since she had cut it. It was a lot more noticeable with her, compared to Korith. Up in her ponytail, her hair looked barely any longer than it had since they left. “I mean, with all of this quiet going on!”
The redhead gestured with both hands at the empty tavern around them. Indeed, the entire Guild building was empty save for the four of them and one female clerk that doubled as the cook and waitress. Usually, those roles were divided inside the organization, but at times like these exceptions were made.
The Expedition had cleared out most of the adventurers in the area and the few that remained were busy this time of day. Since they had come back so early, this state was likely to persist for a couple of days. That had its advantages. Everyone being busy in one place did not prevent new work from being created in another. Work that needed quick solutions shot up in price due to the smaller amount of people qualified to do it.
“Quiet is good at times,” Apexus stated.
“Nah, quiet is awful. When it’s quiet, I gotta try harder to sneak about. Better when everyone is distracted by loud noises and stuff.”
“Our levelling is fast within the expected timeframe.” Aclysia had more to say on the previous topic. “I believe the singular noteworthy individual in that regard is you, however.”
“M-me?” Korith pointed at herself.
“Run the analysis of your party members. I am an angel.“ Aclysia lightly touched her chest. “My soul and vessel have been designed by my father for the purpose of holding as much power as is needed to fend off the Parasytes that infest the Branches. Up to a certain level, 50 by my intuition, I am less ‘expanding’ my power than I am ‘being unsealed’.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Korith followed along so far. “And the stud- A-apexus absorbs way more magic than the rest of us when he eats things, so I get that too.”
“Then you should understand Reysha as well. Her condition effectively gives her the same benefit,” Aclysia explained.
“I’m special!”
Apexus put a hand on her head and gave her ear scratches. “Yes you are, yes you are.”
“Any reason ya said that twice?”
“I have observed that’s how people express sarcasm.”
“Awww, he’s being sassy with me, isn’t that adorable?” Reysha purred and leaned into the patting. For being so large, Apexus’ hand paid a lot of attention to detail.
“In summary, three of us have circumstances that drive us to increased levelling efficiency.” Aclysia pointed at the shortstack in her elevated chair. “That makes the sole special member of this party you.”
Korith bashfully pulled her ponytail over her shoulder. “I’m not special…” she cooed, her tone a harmonious mixture of embarrassment and delight. It was nice to be told one was outstanding. “Hehe…” the kobold giggled and got her own head scratches by the male of the party.
“My melody?” Apexus asked, while Reysha and Korith were stun-locked by the affectionate gestures.
‘What a delightful scene,’ the healer thought. “Yes, darling?”
“Lend me your erudition. What are our best options right now?”
Aclysia played with the rim of her now empty cup. “As I understand, seasons on this Leaf last for approximately 3 months each. We will have fair weather for another 3 to 4 months, by that estimation. It is the premiere time to make money for us adventurers. Travel is easy and merchants wish to move around. Winter is the time for dungeon delving. The internal conditions of a dungeon only change by the design of their creators. Of course, that need not hinder us.” The metal fairy turned to the map of the world.
“If we wish to prioritize levels, then we can venture northwards from here and seek out the Vaults of Lightning. There is little to no adventurer activity there, so we would be on our own.”
“Like the good old days,” Reysha joked. Gently, she pushed Apexus’ hand off her head, wishing to partake in the conversation again. “Option two?”
“Option two is we look for work around here, then take a mission to escort a merchant or bring cargo to Drowse once we deem our financial incentives change due to returners from the Expedition.”
Apexus weighed the options off himself. First was best for him. He did not use much equipment, so gold was of no consequence to him. His primary power increases came from levels, Growths and Skills. For the others, however, better equipment was incredibly important. Getting more items would be useful, as would be having time to practice Skills and Spells in relative peace.
Plus, this adventuring lifestyle was still new and he wanted to learn more of it.
“Let us prioritize money for the time being,” he decided.
And so, they did.
They took several Quests out in Summerdawn. First was a simple mission about the control of the local population of Shadowcats. Those black-furred felines were not big enough to hunt humans but could harm them and, more importantly, they were stealthy enough that regular hunters couldn’t just snipe them while they were out hunting deer.
Hunting deer was also the reason why the Shadowcats needed to be controlled in population. In this ecosystem, Shadowcats fulfilled the role of picking off the misshapen, sick and old deer – that was when the Shadowcat population was at a low. Left to their own devices, Shadowcats would grow enough in population to also hunt healthy adult deer, That, however, was against the interest of the locals, who wanted to have game to hunt for themselves. Thus, they needed to decrease the population of Shadowcats without hunting them to extinction.
It was a selfish endeavour, but nature was always that way. When clams carpeted the ocean floor, choking out anything that wasn’t their own predator, they did not care for biodiversity either. At least about the sapient people, it could be said that they made an effort to keep animals around for the beauty of them.
After that, there was a mission by a local alchemist to gather 50 flowers that only grew at this specific time in the year. It was a three-day endeavour of finding and plucking the plants – and fighting off the bears that were attracted by the smell.
The Expedition returned to Summerdawn around that time, driving down the general rewards and thus making it lucrative to relocate back to Drowse. The party found a mission to accompany a merchant and went back down to the southwest. They accompanied the merchant all the way back to the border, then parted ways early to deal with an Incursion that was plaguing a local village.
Incursion cleared, they made their way back to Drowse proper. There, they ran into the Atlas Party again, standing at the centre of the usual ruckus in the Guild. They shared some more stories, as Atlas introduced them to other people in and around the Guild.
They took on more Quests. Simple ones for the most part, like bounties or clearing out more Incursions. Sometimes they had fun breaks from those regular jobs in the form of odd missions, like a request to find the gold bars a widow thought her husband had hid in the garden.
That turned into a much larger affair, once Korith accidentally stumbled over a murder weapon. It turned out the widow had murdered her husband and was now incapable of finding the funds that he was supposed to have left her. The local officials of the Sleeping Empire ultimately got involved and it was a giant headache. The gold bars were not found either, putting into question whether they had existed in the first place.
Between all of those missions, and sometimes during it, the quartet continued to visit the Guild. They slept in their Mobile Estate, of course, but many of their evenings, alone or all together, were spent in the Guild nonetheless. Reysha did not partake in the drink, having too little of the Spice to waste it on that, but Korith certainly did. The kobold often drank for all four of them.
Before Apexus knew it, weeks had turned to months and he found himself with his arms around the shoulders of two other giant men that he knew somewhat well. Gedrick and Turghuy were their names, one a Warrior the other a Druid, and together the three hulks did a simple group dance with swinging legs and laughter on their lips.
The Bards strummed a festive song as the crowd clapped along. Adventurers from far and wide witnessed it all. They beat their mugs to the beat or stomped their feet, while Aclysia sat above, a smile on her lips. “CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” they encouraged Korith, who drowned enough ale that it should not fit inside her small frame.
It was just one of many nights like that. The Guild had embraced the Inevitable Party fully, in comraderie and glee. The four of them were going along with the motions and understood why so many adventurers stopped at this level. After a few months of this work, they had enough money that they did not have to worry about much on a week-to-week basis. They could instead continue to live it up and laugh with friends. What motivation could one need to exceed past this point?
Pure ambition… and, in their case, a long shadow from the past that stretched to an uncertain future.
Korith marvelled at the pile of Platin in front of her. It was a proper pile, not just a few dozen but several hundreds of coins. For all the nights they had spent having fun, those had been mere breaks between them tirelessly working – to the point that the Inevitable Party now had a reputation for doing work quickly and reliably. The only negative note on the Adventurer’s Guild ledgers about them was that they were led by a Monk.
“Coins are not prey,” Apexus told the shortstack.
“Hoard?” Korith’s vocabulary had collapsed, her mind broken by the sheer amount of wealth on display – their wealth.
“We have saved this money to equip ourselves with enchanted items,” Aclysia reprimanded. “Do not speak any incantations. I will gag you.”
“Don’t threaten her with a fun time,” Reysha giggled and gestured towards the array of sex toys that she had bought with her private money over the months. They were openly displayed on one of the many shelves that now stood in the living room of the Mobile Estate. They no longer had their group meeting on the floor either, having afforded themselves a couch just two weeks back.
Aclysia sighed. “…Perversions all around,” she muttered. “We have saved up a scandalous amount of money. Currently, our group funds contain 879 in pure Platin coins with an additional 1232 in combined lesser currencies.”
“We have two-fucking-THOUSAND Platin?!” Reysha grabbed Korith by the shoulders, dragging the blonde away from the pile. “When did that happen?!”
“The bulk of the money I quietly squirrelled away following that mission with the Horroboar,” Aclysia stated simply. “The Lady Frashina personally handed me a bonus for it. It turned out we saved her nephew.”
“2000 Platin…” Apexus muttered and looked at the pile of currency. It was difficult to believe that all of that minted metal could be converted into all manners of stuff.
“Affirmative, I am pleased with all of our work and contributions.” The metal fairy smiled softly. “A truly incredible sum we earned despite our constant outflow of cash for frivolities and furniture. I will spare you the calculations.” She gestured towards a bright red book prominently displayed on another shelf. It was a financial ledger she had been keeping for a few weeks now. “We are perfectly situated for the Autumn Market.”
