Drip-Fed

“Where is it… where is it?” the old lady mumbled.

The reward for the Quest already lay on the table. Four whole gold coins, most of it in silver, carefully counted by Korith and then put into the party treasury by Aclysia. It was the entirety of the reward promised and already made the party breathe a lot easier. With this, they could definitely live a while and even afford some new equipment.

The reason why the old lady was shuffling through the cupboards was something else.

The house was large, the largest in the village in fact. It was one of the oldest buildings, made by those two original parties that had founded the farmstead and whose blood ran through the vast majority of the current inhabitants. She, the sole living member of those founding parties, had inherited the space partly because they needed storage to put all the memorabilia and partly because this was the village’s most frequently checked on space. If anything happened to her, someone would be close by to check.

For the most part, the memorabilia consisted of items that only had personal value. The old gear of the party had long since been sold off or its magical charge had depleted to the point where they required maintenance too costly to warrant the effort. Among all those trinkets and faded gizmos was a thin book bound in leather.

“There we are!” the old woman declared once she had found it. “You will find this most useful, I believe.”

“I don’t really read,” Reysha said, but took the book anyway. “Care to give me spoilers?”

“It’s the gathered notes of one of my old party members about coping with the drawbacks of Noir,” the old lady revealed. “I told you it was quite frequent on this Leaf back when I was active.”

Reysha was now a lot intrigued and opened the book up wide. Both the old lady and Aclysia squeaked in horror. Ancient strings ripped and only a swift intervention by Apexus kept the spine from breaking entirely. “We should have it rebound,” Aclysia suggested. “Give it to me, before your irreverent hands break this ancient parchment.”

For once, there was no quip on Reysha’s lips. Chastised and looking the part, she handed the ancient journal over to be kept safe in Aclysia’s adventurer’s bag. “Any idea of what is in it beyond the summary?” Apexus investigated.

“Mostly tips and tricks on how to draw ‘the spice of magic’ out of things. I also recall him being proud of making alcohol drinkable again.”

“Is that for real?!” Reysha nearly jumped with excitement. “Oh fuck, yes, please let me taste the numbness from the pain of existence again, I craaaaaaaaave it!”

“That sounds unhealthy,” Korith remarked.

“Yes, it’s alcohol,” Reysha returned.

The old lady chuckled. “I guess bantering is ingrained in every good party,” she said, then went for a nearby chair to have her seat. “Now, don’t let me keep you. Much as I like the company, I don’t have the energy for long conversations these days.”

“Thank you for the book!” Reysha exclaimed. “I mean it – like, really fucking mean it.”

“If you meant it, wash out your mouth, young lady, that’s no way to talk,” the old woman half-joked. “Now out, before I remember how to cast a Lance spell.”

The jovial threat did move them out of the large house. The village was empty now, everyone either out in the fields or busy in the adjacent storage and working facilities. Only the youngest children and freshest mothers were still at home. Consequently, they left the village in tranquil silence and were back on the road a moment later. Back on the minimal imprints that semi-regular traffic had left on the ground, to be more accurate.

This was the most civilized part of the Leaf and it was barely above the rural outskirts of a true realm. “Isn’t this place just refreshingly out there?” Korith asked. “I mean, it’s kinda tame but not really and that’s really nice.”

“It is a good place to adventure,” Aclysia agreed. “We should earn a proper keep here.”

“I agree,” Apexus said.

“Could be a little more wild, but yeah, I can work with this,” Reysha stated. “Now let’s find a bookbinder!”

______________________________________________________________________

 

“That’ll be 1 gold,” the craftsman said.

“For a bookbinding?!” Korith squeaked.

“You make it sound like that’s easy work and doesn’t involve a whole process of carefully separating the pages, glueing them back together, then using string to attach it all to a new hardcover crafted from leather and cardboard.” The craftsman took a huff from his pipe, then puffed it back out in a slow breath. “I know you short, scaled fellows are stingy, but that’s what it’ll cost.”

“Your services are most welcome,” Aclysia put the gold coin on the counter before Korith could start to haggle. A decision that made the kobold blow up her cheeks in quiet protest.

Reysha poked one side of the blonde’s face, causing the air to be released as an amusing sound. “That’s 25% of our earnings right there!” The kobold complained while they walked away. “It’s a steal, I tell you! That money would be much better invested with Hoard!”

“Hoard does not offer returns on investments. A book that helps alleviate the drawbacks of Reysha’s condition is priceless,” Aclysia answered.

Korith kept pouting, while the party waited for the craftsman to write them a receipt. “It’ll take me a couple of days. Got a backlog.”

“Really?” Reysha asked and looked around. “Didn’t expect many people in these parts to need books bound.”

“Enough proselytizing priests and self-aggrandizing adventurers around these parts, I assure you,” the craftsman told her. “We’ve got less paper than people that want to advertise their latest achievements. Then there’s the guild with their constant needs to publish updated findings on the local monsters. You new here?”

“Affirmative,” Aclysia answered.

“I recommend you pick up a copy of the Alarshus Encyclopaedia in a month or two, when the new edition is published. Good book to have out on the road to know what’s edible and not. Plus it spares you asking every Guild clerk out there about info whenever you’re aiming at a new dungeon.”

“Your recommendation is deeply appreciated and will be taken into consideration at the mentioned moment in time,” Aclysia responded.

The craftsman chortled a little at her overly complex sentence structure and verbiage. Then he shooed them off with a gentle wave of his hand. “If you aren’t here to get the book once it's done, I’ll keep it in storage for up to a year before putting it out to be sold,” he told them. “Have to assume you died at that point.”

“Understood,” Aclysia said and they stepped away from the shop.

Like most stores in this part of the city, it was a street-facing outcropping of a larger, typically wooden building. The district was entirely built around the beating heart of a few buildings belonging to various merchant guilds. Besides the simply named Trader’s Guild, which was the largest, there were various local or empire-sponsored mercantile enterprises that competed with each other.

Unlike the Adventurer’s Guild, which profited from the disinterest most adventurers had in getting into business, guilds focusing on commerce regularly split into smaller factions to get the most money out of their enterprise possible. This assured steady competition, which was good for everyone involved. The Crafter’s Guild had something similar going on, but that particular organization was primarily organized on the local level because of the natural restrictions of the job.

The layout of the district was broadly U-shaped, with the broad main road leading up to the merchant guilds acting as the gap. Everything was distributed outwards from there. Prices appeared to be fairly standard, by the party’s perception. The flow of currency on this Leaf was many times higher than on the average world, but the amount of supply kept up with the demand, meaning that the prices were balanced out at an ultimately reasonable level for most things. There were some odd edge cases, such as hard liquor being by and large cheaper than normal while bricks and other building materials were a lot more expensive than was regular.

The economy was entirely focused on the needs of adventurers. Long-standing architecture was ten or twenty years away from being considered. For the time being, wood would do. Because everything was made for adventurers, there was another quirk to the layout.

Apexus stopped suddenly when a pair of spears were crossed in front of him, barring him entry through the wide gap in the cobblestone fence. “Show your adventurer’s card,” one of the two guards requested.

Tilting his head, the leader of the party did as requested. There was some remaining hesitance about revealing the card to anyone, courtesy of the Omniverse Chimera Class that was written on it. After his nature had been revealed to the people on the Teacher’s Isle, Apexus felt less paranoid about such things, but a little bit of caution was always healthy.

The guard only would have raised an eyebrow if he had even read that part. The moment he saw the metal the card was made from, he already shook his head. “Coppers don’t get to walk past this point.”

“We were told we would find adequate gear for level 20 and upwards here,” the humanoid chimera said.

“You will, but Coppers don’t get to walk around here. Standard security measure. The crafters don’t want to lose the high-level goods to a thief that gets big ideas and the medics don’t want to deal with someone Equipment Poisoning every day, so we keep the better stuff behind the wall.”

Worthwhile worries to have. Everyone with a brain would keep their more expensive goods in a more secure location in an environment where plenty of people were specifically trained to suppress their presence. Reysha could have made off with a great number of items just in passing if she had so desired and she was far from the only Rogue around – and others were way better at stealing.

Equipment Poisoning, similarly, was a real issue. Every enchanted item radiated part of its magic constantly and that radiation of magic was a lot more intense if someone handled that item. If someone had less magic than an item that they were wielding, the detrimental effects could range from nausea to death, depending on the difference. Like rainwater could cause the surface of a cherry to split due to osmosis, so too did magic have detrimental effects on the undeveloped soul.

In general, it was recommended people did not go for items more than five levels above their level.

Much like the latent magic in dungeons, the radiating magic from magical materials did have its upsides. Crafters found themselves levelling in their own way because of the magic that was released when materials were worked. Much like combat allowed the soul of an adventurer to expand to take in additional energies, so too did the creative process work for crafters. These kinds of levels and Classes were different in their manifestations, but the underlying principle was the same.

It was therefore entirely reasonable to separate where the higher-level people were working from the general areas. It assured the less experienced adventurers and traders didn’t get exposed to the increased amount of magic in the air from the mana-rich fumes of a forge working true silver or the chemicals used to tan the hides of boss monsters.

What Apexus found unreasonable was to tie that to the metal the card was made from. “It clearly states I am above level 20,” he pointed out, verbally and physically.

The guard did him the favour of looking at it, but shrugged all the same. “Could be forged – Look,” he continued before any of the quartet could start complaining. “I don’t know how often people try to forge their cards, I don’t know if it's reasonable to say that people could forge copper cards but not iron ones, but the rules are the rules. Unless the guild respects you enough to give you the iron, you aren’t getting through.”

“How about if I put in a good word for them?”

The new voice in the conversation made the two guards and the quartet turn their attention to its source. Left of the little gathering stood a familiar figure with long-ish brown hair. He raised his hand in greeting.

“You sure about this, Atlas?” the guard asked.

“We had a drunken brawl the other day and he hits hard enough for the part. I was drunk, I should say, the big guy was sober.” Stepping up closer the Warrior gave Atlas a testing, friendly slap on the shoulder. Apexus left the social gesture uncommented. “In any case, they’re not the run of the mill adventurers. They’ll get the iron soon enough.”

“If you say so,” the guard answered with a shrug, then stepped aside. Atlas’ word was good enough for him.

“Come along,” Atlas invited them and, after Apexus took the first step, the rest of the party followed.

“This is an appropriate recompense for the trouble you have caused my darling,” Aclysia stated, once they were past the cobblestone fence. The segment of the district was immediately less busy. Rather than broad appeal, the shops here were focused on commissioned work and it showed. Everyone was working right there out on the street, advertising their wares as much as their craftsmanship. Rather than prices, the large boards by every shop displayed percentages of what the craftsmen either expected to be paid for turning loot into usable items or would pay to receive certain raw materials without the Adventurer’s Guild as the middleman.

Most adventurers were pretty lazy and just handed their loot over to the Guild’s traders, who then sold it in bulk at a markup. Subverting that process was usually cheaper, but most craftsmen did not have the warehouses required to keep everything they wanted in stock so they only bought on demand. It was its own little sub-category of Quests, to get crafters what they wanted.

“Prickly,” Atlas joked, then cleared his throat when the metal fairy kept staring. “Message received. I am really sorry about starting that fight, please forgive me.” He bowed his head in earnest apology.

“You are forgiven,” Apexus said simply.

“This is what I like about you Monks, you’re always direct.” Atlas straightened back up. “Not going to lie to you either, I don’t think I said anything wrong… unless I got a massive hole in my memory.”

“You said that adventurers should extort those in need of help,” Apexus summarised.

“Woooow, that sounds a bit much. We still have a moral obligation to make sure people live,” Atlas swiftly answered. “I would say adventurers should maximize their profits. That does sometimes involve squeezing people a bit, I admit, but I can’t help people that have nothing to offer me if I don’t take the big paycheck from the people that have more than enough. The good stuff doesn’t pay for itself.” He pointed over his shoulder at a shop that, in big, bold letters displayed the words: DO NOT ENTER WITH LESS THAN 100 GOLD!

The idea did not sit right with Apexus still. ‘Perhaps I am judging them too harshly on the basis of my own self-sufficiency,’ the slime considered. “I will give your words further contemplation.”

“And I give a half-promise not to punch you next time I’m drunk,” Atlas laughed, then ducked away to escape Aclysia’s criticizing gaze. “See you around!”

“Jolly fellow,” Reysha commented.

“He seems alright,” Korith agreed.

“He has annoyed me and continues to do so,” Aclysia put out her verdict.

Apexus had nothing to add and instead looked around. “Let’s see if we can sell that Mana Gem. I don’t think we’ll be able to afford a new weapon for Reysha otherwise.”