Straight outta the Shire

The bushes rustle and a figure steps out. A scrawny kid steps out, strawberry hair in a tight ponytail. Dressed in a green shirt and brown pants, she holds her bow at her side. Her face, a mix of fear and defiance.

“P-please, don’t kill me. I surrender!” She drops her bow and raises her arms.

“Smart move. What’s your name, kid?” I lower my hand.

“Kid? I’m 22 years old!” She snaps.

“What? You look like you could barely pass for 18!” I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Pfeh! Typical humans! Think we should all look like them!” she mumbles.

“Wait! You’re not human?”

“Of COURSE not! I’m a Halfling, dipshit! What do I look like?!?” she shouts.

“I thought Halflings were plump, happy go lucky folk who had hairy, wooly toes. That’s what the song said…” I trail off.

“Where the fuck did you get your information from? Plump? WOOLY FUCKING TOES!?! What does that even mean?” She starts yelling.

“Whoa! Calm down! I can still blast you into next year!” I point a finger at her and this shuts her up quickly. “Ok,” I catch myself and put my hand down, “ok. It’s clear I have a lot to learn. How about this? I’m going to offer you a job. I need a guide. Someone to explain the world to me.”

“What do you mean, explain the world?” she looks dumbfounded.

“How about this, let’s do a Walk and Talk. How far is the nearest town?”

“About a day and a half that way.” She points North.

“Great. I can fill you in on what I need and you can decide what you want to do after that.” I pull off the leader’s clothes and rummage through his stuff. A handful of silver and copper a short sword and nothing else of interest. The pants are a bit tight but luckily the boots fit.

“You’re gonna rob a corpse?” she sounds surprised and disappointed.

“Why not? You all were going to do that to me. Do those other two have anything worth grabbing?”

“Nah, Orion here kept pretty much everything. Said we’d get our cut after a big score and he’d be in charge of equipment and shit. Meanwhile he and Caro would get drunk off of OUR loot!” she spat.

I finish changing and I put my old clothes in a pile. A white button down shirt, khaki pants and brown shoes. I point to it and drop a fireball on it. “So what’s your name?”

“Name’s Selina. You mentioned something about a job? Not for nothing, but you would trust me enough to give me a job?”

“I’m glad you brought that up.” My demeanor gets darker, “let me see your knife. I know you have one. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you unless you try something.”

She hands me a dagger. Nothing fancy, six inches, steel, with flecks of rust and a wood handle. “This things dull, you should have kept better care of it. Let’s see…” I open my tab and tap Magic.

“If I could afford to do that, I wouldn’t have had to become a bandit. Also, what are you doing?”

“Fair enough. I’m browsing my magic. What do you see?” I ask, genuinely interested in what my actions look like.

“It looks,” she says, choosing her words carefully, “like you’re poking and swiping at a bug.”

I laugh. “Good to know people can’t eavesdrop on my stats. I have a lot of magic at my disposal and this is how I organize it. Ah! Here we are. Alchemy.” I take one of the silver coins and the knife and cup my hands together. A flash of light later and I’m holding a steel bracelet with silver running through it. “This should work. Now for the Enchanting. Ah, here we are, Enchanting.” I tap the button. “Binding, Binding. There!!”

I close my eyes, pouring my will and mana into the bracelet. It hovers in my hand, spinning. Purple energy coalescing around it, getting absorbed into the metal, turning it darker. My eyes shoot open as the spell finishes and I slump to the ground holding the bracelet. I open my stats, noting that this drained over a third of my mana.

“Good to know these things aren’t easy to make,” I pant as I catch my breath.

“W-what is it?” Selina asks in almost a whisper.

“This,” I say, holding up the bracelet. The now black metal in stark contrast to the silver filigree, “is your employment contract.”