A Party in The Woods

Adventure and necessity beckon me deeper into the forest. My trips to town will be harder, but it would be safer as well. Don't mistake Crossroad's great wooded reaches for the thick forest kingdoms of the Elven Lands, there's little magic, danger, or wonder left in these parts. Centuries of rule under The Kingdom has seen many great things removed from the forest. I can't name them all, but the fey were declared enemies long before Bellowyn's cult was sent underground. Every year the Kingdom's list of what has the right to exist gets ever more strict.

Elizabeth is proof of that. Our great Monster slayer, well what's the difference between a monster and an animal. Very little. We are in the age of their extermination, just as my people had endured their own age. Without the mother of monsters and her followers to lead and care for these creatures, how long would they last?

"What are ya thinking about Boss?" Cyrus looks up at me. He's been blessedly quiet these past few hours, a silent goblin, he truly is a marvel.

"Just wondering what this forest used to be like."

"Used to be a lot more goblins in it." He said simply.

"Very true." I smiled, and led the horse a little further.

Wheels are a wonderful invention, but they're not great for the muddy forest floor. Roads were one of the things I'd never blame The Kingdom for. We were constantly having to move logs, or dig the wheels out of the mire. The poor horse was exhausted from the uneven ground. I don't have the heart to drag it along much farther.

"Hey you!" There's a shout from not far off.

On instinct Cyrus throws himself in the back of the wagon, and hides under the tarp. I check around, and see three people coming from the way I came, the looters had found my after all.

Only as they get closer I'm realizing that they're not looters, or if they are they're very wealthy and successful looters. They're all dressed nicely, have beauty products in their hair, and no dirt on their faces. I'd never met a looter who didn't have dirt on their cheeks. Besides that they were packing, each was armed, two with swords, and wouldn't you know? That looks like an actual magical staff.

Adventurers.

As absolute as The Kingdoms likes to think itself, it can't possibly deal with all of it's problems all of the time. The Army, Cavalry, Inquisition, and Arcane Council make up the lines of the net, while adventurers make up a finer mesh. They deal with smaller local problems, a problem like me maybe.

"Howdy." I say a little nervously. I couldn't take on one adventure, let alone three. "How can I help you?"

They were on me now, just a few feet away. "Are you looking for the dungeon too?" The blue haired spellcaster asked with a smile.

"A dungeon?" I ask, genuinely surprised.

"No one would look for a dungeon alone." One of the swordsmen says with a laugh.

"Not me." I return his laugh. Even if I had been looking for a dungeon, which I wasn't, there's no way I'd tell them I was. As dead as they were, a dungeon was definitely worth killing over. These three seemed friendly enough, but I'm not going to let that get me killed.

"We just heard about it." One of boys says. "Figured we'd rush in, and snatch our stars."

Ah, so not quite adventurers then. These guys were 0 stars, like me. The rankings go to 5. Elizabeth if I had to guess with a 1 star, and she could lift a The Cauldron of Corruption clean over her head, and make your balls explode with a single punch. No one in the cult had any stars at all, Except Glinda, who was alleged to be a three star, but I never bought into that. "That's pretty exciting." I'm just happy they're not going after me. "And you guys might just be in luck."

"How so?"

"Yeah." One of them crosses their arms. "We're not really in the market for another member."

I scoff. "You're not gonna catch me delving through a dungeon." Even though at that very moment I was plotting to do just that. Though hurtfully they all nodded their heads, like it was a given that I'm too pathetic to survive. Completely valid and true by the way. "I'm an alchemist. I can whip up guys up a few healing potions."

"Already covered." One of the sword users, opened up a satchel to unveil a six pack of the things.

"Ah." I say, a little disappointed. "My rival."

"Sorry bud."

"What are you doing all the way out here anyway? Picking mushrooms?"

I gesture to my cart, thankful that Cyrus is nowhere to be seen. "I'm trying to find a secluded place to build a hut, and hone my craft."

"Not going to get many customers out here."

"I shrug." I found three adventurers and I'm not even trying.

They laugh at that. "Well sorry to say, we're about the shut that place down, and any foot traffic your shop is going to get with it."

I nod my head. "Sounds like you're bad for business."

The spellcaster who's been looking like she wants to talk, finally finds a place to butt in. "Do you have any Mana potions, she was charging an arm and a leg for them back in town."

"I could make one." I hedge. "Although an arm and a leg is the usual going price." Red Sodium the main ingredient in healing potions is subsidized by the royal family, making healing potion cheap. Mana potions on the other hand, have no such generous patrons. The ingredients are rare, but they were in my cart."

"How much?"

"40 Gold pieces." I say.

"That's as much as she was charging!"

I shrug. "That's how much they are, I could sell it for less, but I wouldn't be making any money."

"Sounds good to us." One of the swordsmen laughed.

"Maybe we should just get it." The spellcaster says. "We'd feel a lot more comfortable taking this thing on if I had access to more spells right? Our money is no good if we're dead."

The swordsmen nodded, but looked hesitant. Contrary to popular opinion, Adventurers did know how to run away from a bad situation. If they had to run from the dungeon they didn't want to end of failures, and penniless.

"Maybe we can make a deal." I say. "I'll do it for twenty, and you guys let me follow you to the dungeon. If you die a tragic ****, and don't come out I can sell the location. If you clear it out, I just got a neat new extension to my hovel."

"Twenty, eh?" One of the swordmen pulls out a bag of coin, one that looked recently abused and drained. "What do you guys think?"

The other swordman narrowed his eyes a bit. "I want to see this potion first."

"It'll take an hour to brew." I say. "I can get it started in the back of my cart, but we should start looking for the dungeon before other parties catch up."

The holder of the pocket book nodded, and put his coins away. "Sounds fair."

I give them a warm smile. "Sounds like we have a deal!"