Chapter 2 - Habrion

The humid and warm air of the great swamps was making the journey harder than expected. That and the fact the party had chosen not to go around the swamps but pass through them made what at first seemed like a day’s ride to take more than a day and a half. At least it had given them enough time to think about what they are going to do once in the capital. It was strait forward list the quest in the adventurer’s guild and wait for a random opportunist to accept it. The only problem was the reward the party wasn’t going to give a hefty sum of their already diminishing funds away for something like this. In the worst case scenario they would be the people who would have to deal with the Troll like creature.

Approaching the gates of the walled city a patrol of guards stopped them. They inquired about their business in town but ultimately let them pass. What could a small party of three seemingly low level adventurers do? Once inside the three heroes headed towards the Adventurers Guild. The building itself was hard to miss the Victorian architecture of the building made it stand out. Its impressive size was close to a castle but it was by far not the biggest building in town. That prize went to the king’s castle. The two stone giants standing in the center of town were like guardians protecting the city from all that may harm it. When the party entered the Guild through a big iron gate made to fit a carriage. The door when opened creaked as if it was in pain. The main hall revealed itself. The second floor supported only by the stone pillars in four points of the room. The counter where a line of adventurer waiting for their turn to turn in a quest, or peasant hoping for a hero to accept their quest to resque lost village girls or to kill the pesky goblins in the nearby forest. Not many dangerous quests were handed here, this was a fairly peaceful island where not many monsters stayed or the few that did got killed by one of the many adventurers trying to make a profit. Baldor as the self proclaimed leader of the party went over to the counter where a smaller queue awaited this was where quests got approved by the guild. The young lady at the desk was trying her best to process as many people as possible

“If their request got approved quicker they would have more of a chance to receive help” she thought.

When it was his turn the young Asimar handed the request on the man from the small town.

“Though we cannot offer any kind of reward we would like to request a quest for a Beast Slayer to get rid of a certain Oni who has been terrorizing the village” said Baldor the young lady who revealed her name to be Liara said in a sorry tone

“Sadly the guild cannot compensate the adventurer’s for their work and not many are willing to do charity work furthermore we cannot issue a quest with no reward.”Baldor wasn’t amused.

He wasn’t able to provide the necessary funds for a reward and surely he could not ask his newly found comrade to give his own money. Returning to the other two members of the party he said:

“Well boys we are going to have to take care of this ourselves.” Aleksious gazed at Baldor with disregard.

Slowly walked towards the exit of the Guild with determination he seemed to have accepted the outrageous proposal of the Asimar though Rikdah wasn’t willing to risk his own life for a village he had no connection to with frustration he said:

“And you expect me to risk me own life for no one of significance and also no actual benefit to myself, like many of the adventurers I don’t do charity work” Baldor’s expression didn’t change.

“Do you think they are going to let you stay in town or even give you a citizenship you are a nobody if you bring them the head of on Oni on the other hand. They wouldn’t let the savior of a village to go unrewarded” Rikdah unconvinced said.

“And you think we have any chance against that thing an Oni is said to be like a troll in terms of strength and they are smarter than Trolls. How do you plan to kill it? We don’t even have weapons” Baldor didn’t answer just smiled.

“I am going to guess you aren’t going to tell me.”

Rikdah sighed seeing as his companion isn’t giving him the option of backing down

“Might as well come with you if you fail at least I can collect your gear and deliver it to someone close to you”

Baldor looking surprised in truth he never expected Rikdah to come with them following the example of his friend Baldon walked out of the hall with the Dark Elf following him.

Before they can head out the group had to rest after a day and half of riding you would surely be exhausted. Wondering around town and seeing people haggle with street vendors, children playing and trading wagons going around was refreshing for Rikdah. He could not remember the last time he had went to a large city. His home town was large one of the largest but Drows lived in the Underdark a huge cave system. Not many traders and wondering merchants passed through there. The party had to look for a tavern or an inn somewhere where they wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg for a night’s stay. Having found themselves on the main street it wouldn’t be too hard to find inn. Taverns here were plentiful many travelers would pass through here to collect their rewards from quests. The hard part was finding one which would let the group stay the night.

Eventually the main road led to a market Rikdah wasn’t quite sure where to look for an inn anymore it felt like the party had looked all over town why was it so hard to find a place to stay the night. The Dark Elf settled on asking a stranger for direction. Looking around him he saw all kinds of people.

Many people walker all around the curious dark elf. But turning around he saw a man bumping into another and stealing the pouch full of gold from his waist. He wouldn’t have gotten involved but as expected the Baldor who was standing next to Rikdah was already chasing the thief. Seeing the dragonborn follow suit he was left with no choice but to go and help himself. The man who was robbed didn’t seem to notice and kept walking. The thief on the other hand was fast, running through the crowd and going into an alley way. Baldor was already catching up to the thief. But Rikdah’s frail caster body was not prepared for this kind of physical activity so he was lagging behind. When he did catch up it was too late once inside the alley way Baldor got surrounded by three other thieves the person who did this obviously expected someone so self righteous to fall into their trap. Now not only did they get the man’s gold but they would get the chance to rob an adventurer. Thought that wasn’t their goal they wanted more members for their so called “Thieves Guild”. Baldor for the first time in his life actually felt threatened what Rikdah expected of his was to stand up to the muggers and defend himself though without the aid of the dragonborn at his side he felt weak. Where Aleksious had gone no one could say for certain the only thing which mattered was that he wasn’t here. Baldor was giving into the pressure of the three men holding two handed swords. Luckily they hadn’t spotted the Dark Elf lurking behind the corner. If he decided to attack he would get the drop on them though attack with what he had no weapon, magic was the answer but his spells weren’t strong enough to take them on. He would have to figure a way out of this without actually fighting. He could try to reason with the muggers and give them all their gold but where would they stay the night then. Thinking for a few more seconds he came up with a plan.

Jumping out of his cover he shouted

“Stop”

The three thieves baffled looked behind the angelic being and saw a single Dark Elf holding nothing and not channeling a spell. They started laughing.

“I have a proposal for you” the elf said.

“I overheard you talking about the Thieves Guild a few minutes ago. If you let him go we will join you in your endeavors to conquer this city for yourselves”

Rikdah never believed this would dismay the three thieves to let them go and prepared for a sharp blade to go through his chest. Though it never came the one thing which did though was a strong hit with something on the back of Rikdah’s head. He fell to the ground unconscious.