Chase lazily looked up at the ceiling, having just got off of his shift for the day.
The party had decided that the best way to find more soldiers for the foot of the army was for them to set up a table within the tavern where adventurers looking for an easy payday could sign up to join Unity's army.
Chase had told Poppy that it was a stupid idea and would have never worked; however, he was quite surprised too see that many adventurers had taken up on the offer, in fact Chase had interviewed nearly seventeen different soldiers the day after they arrived at the tavern.
But that left him with a new question...
'Where the hell are we supposed to get the money to pay them!'
He groaned and laid down on his side, as the booth behind his was filled with the laughter of two adventurers as they tried to barter the daily wage with Poppy and Michael who had taken up the job of interviewing potential soldiers.
"Get up."
Onyx quietly demanded from the other side of the booth.
"Why?"
Chase asked lazily as he pulled himself back up and into a sitting position.
Onyx looked Chase up and down, no doubt studying the terribly crafted leather armor resting on his body.
Then he stood up, and waved Chase over to follow him.
"Where are we going?"
Chase asked, as he let out a yawn and stood up to follow his ally.
Onyx grumbled something, but continued out the door and into the streets of the cold town.
"I know a place we can get you some new gear."
Walking by a small food cart, Chase and Onyx spotted Justin trying to convince the former slave- Jacob to let him buy him some food.
"Justin, let me and Chase borrow the boy."
Onyx said flatly as he walked up behind the two of them.
Chase tilted his head, noticing that Jacob hadn't freed himself from his ankle shackles yet, and almost asked why, but decided against the question at the last second.
As they walked through the town, Chase repeatedly heard Onyx mumble different tunes and pieces of music that Chase had never heard before.
Beside him, Jacob walked quietly and seemed to not really be in the mood for conversing, but Chase didn't mind the silence, in fact being around Lithica, Equan, and Michael all of the time had been quite draining for his own sanity.
Eventually Chase got bored of the silence as they passed through another alleyway.
"Can you fight?"
He asked Jacob for no particular reason.
He was met with silence for quite some time, but the tanned skin boy eventually nodded as snow descended peacefully around them.
Chase tilted his head, but decided that he didn't need to know the story and continued ahead, passing an old man who was sitting cross-legged in the snow.
He had torn up clothes and mud all over his face, and was terribly malnourished.
Onyx tossed a couple of coins at the man and continued to walk forward.
But Chase couldn't help but let his thoughts take over as he felt angry for the stranger who had nothing but an old cloak wrapped around him.
'Is this in every part of civilization?'
He asked himself, as he lit a small fire on his finger to keep himself warm.
Eventually they passed by another row of buildings and spotted a two story stone building resting against the forest's edge.
It was a worn down shop that had a small wooden sign hung above the door that read "Ricardo's Gear and Armaments" which the three of them walked through the door as a crappy bell shrieked for about half a second as they entered the shop.
Rows of weapons and armor, as well as amulets and plenty of other useful things for adventurers, had been placed on rows on rows of shelving.
Chase mindfully peaked at some of the things contained within the shelves, as Onyx continued deeper into the cramped shop, probably trying to find the shopkeeper.
'What does he plan on buying here...?'
Chase wondered, as he picked up a small silver talisman with a crescent moon carved into the center of the silver circle.
"Chase!"
Onyx called from the other side of the shop.
Chase quickly put the talisman down and quickly walked toward where Onyx's voice had came from.
When he finally spotted him, he was leaning against a glass desk, where plenty of small daggers and other single handed weapons were resting within.
Nobody was on the other side though, which made Chase confused as to why Onyx had a grin on his face.
"This is Ricardo..."
Chase tilted his head at Onyx's introduction, as he scanned the room.
"Right here fool!"
A deep and angry voice yelled from behind the glass desk.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. He is a dwarf, and probably the shortest dwarf to ever live on the continent of Vallmora."
Onyx chuckled, as he tapped his finger against the surface of the glass desk.
"I am no DWARF!"
A small bearded man screamed as he slammed his fist into the side of the glass desk.
And sure enough, when Chase finally spotted him, he almost laughed as well.
The man was about one and a half feet tall, with a beard so long that it was probably three times the length of his own body, and was strung out across the floor like some really long cape.
"And were gonna finally upgrade that shitty armor of yours..."