The bar was relatively quiet, with Patience and Millicent the only two people sitting together. I caught a few snippets of conversation as I walked down the stairs.

“Really! you think Tib and Nica?” said Millicent.

“Of course I do, I’m surprised you don’t,” replied Patience.

“I can’t even picture them together. Do you think they even talk?”

“My guess is that they’re very vocal together.”

Unfortunately, I hit a particularly creaky floorboard and the gossip ceased as they noticed me. I was tempted to prompt them to continue, but I was the new person to the group, and didn’t know if I was quite at talking trash about coworkers' level yet.

Patience smiled and looked at Zevrack. “Zev! Come have a drink with us.” She gave me a wink. “Your pet human can join us too.”

“Thanks.” I muttered with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

Zevrack hopped onto the stool next to Millicent and immediately started asking direct questions about what she’d learned from the wizard we’d encountered. She smiled, delighted to talk shop. Zevrack had actually met both of them first and introduced me. Turns out most women find kobolds adorable. I didn’t disagree, mind you, nor did I complain since the system had been so nice as to tie us together.

I sat next to Millicent and ordered a drink. She drank an ale, but I ordered a sweet cocktail that was some kind of mix of lime-juice and sugarcane based alcohol. It was a standard in the bars here, and I was grateful for the alternative. I’d tried the ‘hearty adventurer drinking swill’ thing the second night I’d arrived, and quickly found I didn’t have the stomach for it.

Patience looked me over. “Well, aren’t you dressed like a mark? I'm tempted to hold a knife to your throat and take your purse myself.”

“That would be the second time today.”

“Really?” she chuckled. “Well, that’s what happens.”

I gave a brief description of the earlier events of the day. “I’m thinking of doing it more often. Easy XP.”

She shook her head. “Sure, until you encounter people who find it more convenient to slit your throat first, rather than just trying to rob you.”

“Eh, you’re probably right. I’ll just enjoy the attempted muggings when they happen organically.”

I received a notification.

Congratulations! You’ve completed Village Quest: Cave of Horrors

Reward: 500xp, 15gp

“Looks like they finally finished processing our wizard,” I noted, assuming that was the trigger for our completing the quest. The XP we received had been just enough for me to level, so I went ahead and distributed my points into SPD and DEX again. The more I fought and experienced, the more that becoming specialized appealed to me. Sure, I’d pop the occasional point into CON or STR, but only the minimum I felt I’d need for survivability and damage output. I pulled up my sheet.

Cormac

Half-Elf

Lvl 7 Mercenary

XP: 11545

->HP: 96

Stats:

STR: 14

->DEX: 18

->SPD: 18

INT: 14

WIS: 10

PER: 11

CON: 12

LCK: 8

Known Skills:

->Sword (LVL 11)

Club (LVL 6)

Mace (LVL 5)

Axe (LVL 5)

Spear (Lvl 8)

Hammer (LVL 5)

Bow (LVL 5)

->Dagger (LVL 13)

Improvised Weapon (LVL 7)

->Barehanded (LVL 13)

->Stealth (LVL 6)

Feint (LVL 5)

Trapfinding (LVL 4)

->Negotiation (LVL 2)

Trapping (LVL 2)

->Acrobatics (LVL 4)

Abilities (Racial):

Half Borne of Magic

Abilities (Class):

Anything in a Pinch

For the Right Price

A Job is a Job

Abilities (Unique):

Left Hand Free

Borne of Two Worlds

Reduce Magic

Spells:

Flash Step 1x per day

Grease 1x per day

Spark unlimited uses

Stone Toss 1x per day

I heard a cough, and dismissed my sheet to look at Patience.

“It’s considered rude among humans to look at your sheet in the midst of a conversation.”

I scratched my chin awkwardly. “Sorry, just got a level.”

“Oh, what’d you hit?”

I considered lying, but decided there was no point to it. “Seven.”

“Ah, you're not far behind the rest of us. I’m at 8, Millie’s at 9. Not sure where Nica and Tiberius are, but I’d guess they're around the same range as the rest of us. We’re all at the hard part.”

“Hard part?” I asked.

“Last three levels before you get a new class. The gap between levels starts to feel insurmountable around here. People with non-combat classes don’t have much trouble, but those of us that rely on combat and quests have a lot of difficulty. A lot of people don’t make it past this point. They either quit, or start recklessly throwing themselves at quests and dying. Doesn’t help that competition for quests is so stiff and you often find yourself with jobs you're too weak or too strong for.”

I nodded. I’d only experienced quests on regular adventurer terms twice, and I couldn’t say I was a fan. There was a lot of going bar to bar to check message boards, constant bribes to make sure good jobs found their way to you, or trading quests with other groups for jobs you realized you couldn’t do and hoping the other group didn’t screw you. “Do adventure groups struggle like this in every city?” I asked.

Patience nodded. “Far as I know. The struggles can vary, of course. People where I’m from get most of their quests from the church, Tiberius’ people have some bureaucrats handle it, but the bribe situations are out of control.”

“And there’s no central group of adventurers?”

She shook her head. “There’s some informal groups, but we’re a hard bunch to get to work together.”

I sipped my drink, letting some gears turn in my head as I did so. Adventurers tended to plateau at the level we were at. There was stiff competition for quests, but the quests that are available are so varied that it’s easy to grab one you’re not suited for and suffer because of it. On top of it all, you’ve got groups of adventurers that have difficulty working with one another. It sounded like another entity was required to step in and make things work, but it was a brash thought for someone new to the world to have. The idea that I as an individual from another world had all the answers was laughable, but still, no reason I couldn’t keep thinking about it and putting a few feelers out. Besides, I’d been looking for a goal to call my own, why not an adventurer’s guild? That would certainly satisfy Ren as well, maybe even earn me something from the system.

I returned my attention to the bar and took a moment to listen in on what Zevrack and Millicent were talking about while Patience flirted her way into a refill from the bartender.

“These enchantments are tied to runes, and then those runes are placed in different orders for different effects?” asked Zevrack.

“Basically, but it’s not my expertise to be honest. I’ve always stuck with magic that gives a bit more of an instant result. If you’d like there’s a small magic demonstration and recruitment going on tomorrow. Someone there may have more information for you.”

I chose then to pipe in. “A demonstration?” I asked.

Millicent swiveled in her stool to face me. “Yes, it’s a school from Tib’s neck of the woods. They try to recruit people with magic affinity in other major cities. They cast big bombastic spells to impress people. Jokes on them though, most people who join wind up just taking what they learned home with them, free of any attempted indoctrination.”

I smiled wide. “Where and when is this demo?” I asked.

“Every day, in the administrative island center. Did you want to see it?”

“Absolutely.” While we were between jobs it seemed like a good way to potentially pick up a few free spells.

“I can take you and Zevrack tomorrow. I think Nica is busy with a wedding and Tiberius has to do some bodyguard work for his cousin anyway.”

“How about you Patience? Up for seeing some magic?” I asked.

“A bunch of people watching explosions in the air with their backs turned to me? No Tiberius and Nica keeping me ‘honest’? Sounds like a good time to me.”

I smiled, it seemed like we’d both find something worthwhile there. Me the opportunity to add more spells to my arsenal for free, and her the chance to lighten the purses of some distracted rubes. I’d have to make sure my own was secure too since, while I liked Patience quite a bit, that didn’t mean I trusted her not to rob me. At least not yet.