Drip-Fed

 

The Adventurer’s Guild separated its members into ten tiers, signified by cards made from ever rarer kinds of metal.

Copper cards were the lowest of the low. They were so cheap to produce that the service of having them created was free in basically every Guild outpost around the Omniverse. Anyone who wanted to get a copper card could do so at any point and for any reason. It was no surprise then that they were the most frequently seen. Even adventurers of higher tiers often carried a copper card with them because it was simpler to get an updated level that way.

Above copper came bronze and then iron. Ascendancies in rank in this spread were tied, more than anything, to Guild records of an individual. Once an individual or a party had fulfilled loosely outlined criteria, they were allowed to either apply or were outright given a card of the elevated service.

These three initial ranks made up the dwelling of the vast, vast majority of adventurers and roughly covered the level spread of 1 to 30. Levels did not correspond cleanly, since the Guild reserved the right to promote (and, rarely, demote) based on their own criteria.

Cards for these ranks were cheap to make, since all these metals were fairly common. Some larger collectives of adventurers, such as Expeditions or Chapters, sometimes were given license to make their own cards just to ease the administrative burden. Similarly, often adventurers were given some kind of writ to prove they were entitled to new cards of a certain rarity. Most people only upgraded their cards when they achieved a new rank though. Level numbers were only useful as an estimate on what challenge to tackle next and getting a new card around every 10 levels was, therefore, good enough.

It was above these ranks that things got interesting. Silver and gold came next. It was the only stretch that had a definitive ceiling in terms of level, as no one could exceed the rank of a gold card without having acquired their Common Art, something that usually happened at level 50, with only minor deviations being known.

This was the stretch where adventurers left the realm of the common problem solver and became influential people just by virtue of their existence. Silver and gold cards were not handed out without merit, just because of how expensive it was to make them. By raw material, a gold card was worth about ten coins. No one would have ever sold it, the doors such cards opened were worth more than that, but that was still something to be said.

Platin was next. Platin was where people’s reputation truly began to soar, as they now had access to a Common Art. These powerful techniques, although shared with other people of the same Class, were a strength amplifier that made it so individuals above this threshold could take on dungeons of lower levels on their lonesome without much worry.

Titanium, azurust, and orichalcum were the three kinds of cards that followed. For most people, all these ranks meant that someone was a living legend. For the Adventurer’s Guild and the Church, these ranks were interesting because it allowed them to filter who to reach out for in case of calamity. The return of Apotho and threats of the same level demanded that no one less than an azurust ranked adventurer was called into the mission to try and take care of this. Azurust, in this system, roughly equalling someone between level 70 and 80.

Lastly, there was the divinium tier. Cards made from the godly metal were handed out with exceptional rarity, as it was generally regarded as a waste. Those that operated at this strength level stood at the cusp of providence. It was assumed that adventurers of this level would not remain within the mortal coil for much longer. Thus, the divinium tier was usually granted only to those that deliberately decided to stay mortal for longer than required and keep suffering the restrictions of material existence in exchange for staying free of the gods’ code of conduct.

Only those that had their Individual Art entered the divinium rank and they were short of gods in two aspects. First, they remained within mortal bodies. Second, they were not granted the Spark of Creation – that fragment of the Omniverse’s might that allowed gods to take the silver mana coursing through the great tree to make new Leaves.

To call them demigods would have been entirely accurate.

Although the Guild did somewhat consider moral fibre when taking into account where someone should be placed in the ranking, the main question they asked was that of merit. Quests concluded successfully and money earned for the Guild (in the shape of commissions on Quests) were what the Guild cared about most. It was a simple question of operating costs for the top brass in the Guild. A multi-versal enterprise rarely had the luxury of caring about ethics in their conduct.

It was for that reason that no one in the group had even been granted a bronze card. They all looked at their updated copper. Aclysia was level 22, as was Apexus, Reysha reached level 23, and Korith was behind at level 21. All of that was in the expected range. It was the metal of the cards that caused them a headache.

“This will be an issue going forwards,” Aclysia hummed. “We cannot rely on others to keep giving us access to the good parts of the markets.”

“We have a bunch of issues going backwards,” Reysha groaned and put down the bowl she had, with much chagrin, swiftly downed. “We’re flat broke again.” The redhead played with the true silver stiletto now attached to her hip. It had cost them the entirety of the loot and two and a half of the remaining three gold of their Quest reward. All of that after Korith had haggled so harshly that the smith had only agreed to the price on the condition that they never came back to her.

“A-and if we don’t get recognized as a higher level group, we won’t get recommended for specific jobs!” Korith squeaked. Besides the blackboard, the Guild also offered the service of directly finding parties best suited for jobs of particularly high-paying customers. The Guild got a higher cut of those Quest’s rewards, but that was paid by the Quest giver so getting recommended for one of these was typically lucrative – plus the prestige involved was plenty.

“If we wish to advance quickly, it would be in our interest to take Quests that offer the maximum reward for minimal time investment,” Aclysia stated the obvious. “I… dislike this, but perhaps we should consider Atlas’ approach for the immediate future.”

The idea did not invoke joy in Apexus. Much like his first love, he could not deny the efficacy of the idea to get out of their cycle of bare minimum and brokenness. “It would be wise,” he agreed, reluctantly. It felt wrong to cave after having a brawl over it. To hold onto the opposite position because of that would have been even more wrong.

They needed money. It was that simple. Without proper armaments and consumables, the challenges up ahead would be unnecessarily dangerous. They were safe of Apotho’s schemes for now, but one day Apexus wished to bring that warlock to justice. If not for his own sake, then for the redhead who still suffered the nightmares of her guilt at times.

With that in mind and their bellies full, they moved to the blackboard.

The mission that Atlas had recommended to them a few days ago had been removed, likely claimed by another party that wanted the money. After ten minutes of scanning, they settled simply on a Quest with a massive reward of 150 gold. That alone would be more money than they had earned in the entirety of the last two years put together several times over and definitely keep them in the green for a while.

“Are you sure you want this Quest?” the clerk asked when they brought the note to the counter.

Apexus read the text again. By its description it seemed simple enough. North of Drowse, south of the mountains that separated the peninsula from the Influence Zone of Chimerion, was a small area that remained dominated by Incursions and naturally occurring monsters. In that area was a lake. At the bottom of the lake was a ship that had been carried there during a storm flood and then sunk. In that ship were valuables that the Quest giver wished retrieved.

“What is the problem with it?” Apexus asked.

“A Chimera Gargant has been spotted in the area. A bounty has been placed, but it’ll take a bit before we can confirm it's safe again.”

“Uhm, question!” Korith jumped and then held onto the edge of the desk in order to be seen as she spoke. “Bounties are just general rewards, right? So it doesn’t violate the ‘no multiple Quests’ code?”

“That would be correct, but a Gargant is recommended for a party of level 25.”

Apexus considered the risk and reward of the situation. At level 22 average, they were close enough for comfort. Their lack of equipment, they could compensate for somewhat with their individual quirks and benefits. They had slain a minor dragon via dirty methods. A Chimera Gargant should have been just as possible.

“We will take the risk,” Apexus decided.

The Quest paid too well not to consider. “As the Quest states, the provider would like a meeting first,” the clerk informed them. “Please take this form to their address. Once you have returned it with their signature, I will officially mark the Quest as in progress.”

Aclysia took the form and carefully folded it before stowing it away. Then, the party headed out.

The location they had been given took a bit to find. Official addresses weren’t a thing in this city, so everything was relative to the few permanent or larger fixtures of the districts. The house they were pointed to was three removed north-east of the Sleeper’s Guild, the state-sponsored merchant guild on the Leaf.

‘Three removed’ turned out to be a flexible term. Given the bend of the street and general uncertainty where one property ended and another began, it was arguably the case that the house of the merchant was seven or just two removed. In any case, after some awkward knocking and asking around, the party managed to get where they were supposed to be.

It was a two-story house with walls of orderly stacked brick stone. That alone betrayed the wealth of the inhabitant. There was no quarry anywhere near Drowse, the only way to make a house like this was to have every individual brick brought over the Branch via carriage or to have them shaped up by Shamans via earth-fusing rituals.

Despite that, the house was relatively small, too small to count as a manor. The base floor consisted of a foyer, two offices, a living room, a kitchen, and the staircases that led up to the bedrooms and down to the storage cellar. In it lived the merchant, his wife, two children, and a separate bedroom was kept empty for a live-in maid. A typical house of the emerging upper class of this gradually settling Leaf.

In the absence of a maid, the man of the house had to greet the party personally. He was a short man in his early fifties, with a bald head and a gentle demeanour. Apexus liked him immediately, because of a combination of eagerness to please and calculation inside those eyes.

“Can I get you anything? We have tea, cookies…”

“We will not take your time for long,” Aclysia responded. “We wish to set out on the Quest as soon as possible. We simply require your signature.” She pulled out the form.

“Yes, yes,” the trader took the paper over to his small writing desk and grabbed a feather. As the ink of his signature dried, he turned to the party. “The reason why I requested this be done is that I wanted to have a quick chat about what I want you to find and how to get it back.”

“We walk?” Reysha suggested.

The trader showed a mildly amused smile. “That may be a little bit difficult. To make a long story short, I was the captain of the ship when it sank, so what I want retrieved is the chest in the captain’s quarters. It was built to remain dry on the inside, so the contents should still be intact, as long as it's not opened.”

“You would prefer if we managed to retrieve the chest unopened?” Aclysia guessed.

“If possible, yes. Most of the contents would be fine with some limited exposure to water, but there’s a picture of my wife in there, among other things, that I’d rather keep intact. Also, the chest itself is worth a pretty copper, as you can guess.”

‘That little? Ah, metaphor…’ Apexus thought to himself. ‘Why not say pretty platinum?’ The question was also kept to himself.

“We will attempt our best, but in case we do not manage to drag the chest to land in its entirety, is there a particular order of priorities at which you would like to see the items retrieved?” Aclysia investigated.

“To put it bluntly, there’s roughly 500 gold worth in rolled up coins in there, so I would like that retrieved first,” the trader answered and fixated on their faces one after another. That he had wanted a meeting now made sense twice over. Easier to prevent the party from stealing when they knew that their faces were associated with the Quest. “Beyond that, there’s sentimental trinkets. A locket, a few rings, a broken lantern,  aforementioned picture, of those I would just like you to save what you can. There is also an… additional reward to be earned.”

The trader grabbed two pieces of paper. One was blank, the other was the blueprint of the vessel they were out to find. It was an averagely sized merchant ship, barely larger than the vessel they had travelled on, back on Tacuitos, to get to the Dragon Isles.

“The ship sank straight with the nose down,” the merchant told them. “That’ll make getting to the captain’s quarters relatively easy.” He copied the shape of the ship onto the blank page and marked the space under the elevation of the steering wheel where his room had been. “However, my crew has requested that I at least ask that you retrieve what you can of their belongings and that will be more complicated. The crew quarters were down here.” He drew in a flight of stairs that left under deck, then a wall, then a bunch of hammocks. “I am sure you can see the issue.”

“The captain’s quarters are up and directly accessible, but the sailor’s quarters are all the way down,” Aclysia analysed. “It’ll be difficult to manoeuvre, all of the heavy items will have sunk to the bottom of the room and the doors will be swollen shut from the exposure to water.”

“That’s the long and short of it, yeah. Just grab whatever you can, again chests would be optimal but I get you only have so many hands. Also, one of my men drowned in there.  Unlikely he turned into an undead, but with the Chimerion zone you never quite know.”

“It will not be an issue for us,” Apexus assured.

“It won’t? Not to pry or anything, but I had already given up hope on anyone taking the Quest on account of adventurers being unable to stab the concept of drowning.”

“I can survive underwater,” Apexus said simply. “I do not need to breathe.”

“Ah… well, that’s very useful.”

“It is,” Apexus agreed and the conversation came to a grinding halt.

Aclysia cleared her throat. “Manoeuvring underwater will indeed be the least of our issues. Dragging the valuables back to shore under the duress of wild monsters will be our primary hindrance. You mentioned assistance on returning the items once retrieved?”

“Ah, yes, if you would direct your eyes there.” The trader pointed them at a local map of Drowse. It was made from wood and glass, allowing him to draw onto the surface with a special kind of pen and then wipe it away later with simple cloth. Using one such pen, he drew a route. Hexagons on the map hinted at the distance one could travel in a day. “On the way to, I can’t help you, but on the way back, you should go to the Drowse River. There’s a bunch of ferries that take adventurers downstream. Just mention Bo from the Bo Ring Company sends you. I’ll have it paid later.”

“Bo Ring company, really?” Reysha laughed.

“Simple names sell,” the trader answered with a proud smile. “You won’t forget it.”

“Affirmative, we shall commit it to memory.”