Back in Ashborne, the party brings Liber, Maya, and Silvia to the Champions of Milos guild to find them suitable housing. Upon entering the building they're met with silence, stares, and then applause. After a moment a guild representative greets the party and congratulates them on completing all three available wood rank quests simultaneously. "We received word earlier this morning of y'alls accomplishments." The guild representative stated.
"All three?" Krysis questioned.
"Yes, in completing the cave quest, you also managed to exterminate the local goblin problem, and rescue all the missing children, not just the one with a posted quest, but all of them. Truly an incredible feat, especially for a newly formed party, if you'll follow me back here we can process your rank up all the way to Steel adventurers." Rose said.
The party all look at each other and smirk before saying their goodbyes to Liber, Maya, and Silvia. "Take care y'all, we're always a call away if y'all ever just want to talk or need any help." Roxie said softly, as she handed each of them a speaking stone. "These are connected directly to me, don't hesitate to use them. They're gonna take good care of y'all here." Roxie continued. She gives them each a big hug, and then the party follows Rose on back to Lillian.
"Welcome back High Five, please take a look at the job board, after I get your paperwork ready." Lillian says as she gestures to the adjacent board. The party looks over at the job board as Lillian calls their attention back towards her. "Each of you please sign here, and take your new adventurer cards." Lillian says sweetly.
Each member takes their new card and looks in amazement at it, none of them had ever accomplished anything of merit before. They finally head over to the job board and find a few listings available for Wood or Iron ranked adventurers, but decide to snag the last remaining Steel job to get the experience under their belts.
The job was more tailored towards their party anyways, as it was seeking a party of more than three adventurers to escort a merchant from Ashborne to Aquarine. The job stated the merchant is looking to bring supplies for Aquarine since it is a completely water locked city in the middle of Raging Lake, only accessible via bridge. The job offers a lump sum of 50 gold to the accompanying party.
"We'll take this one." Krysis proclaimed to Lillian as he handed her the sheet of parchment.
"Excellent, I'll let the Merchant's Guild know the job has been taken." Lillian said smiling. "Please wait outside, it is my understanding the carriage is already ready to go." Lillian continued.
The party headed out the massive doors of the guild hall and waited by the curb till a fancy horse drawn carriage came trotting down the street. The carriage was beautifully hand crafted from teak, with an off white tapestry covering the cargo, drawn by two exquisite noble looking clydesdales. Sitting at the controls was the Coachman, a dwarf with both his beard and hair neatly pulled tight with hair ties, dressed in a nice suit. As the carriage approached, a middle aged human man, with parted brown hair, a full mustache, popped his head out of the tapestry and waved hello to the party, he seemed very charming. "Hello adventurers, my name is Tobias, I'm so grateful you could escort me on my trip for the guild." Tobias shouted cheerfully.
The party caught on to just smile and wave when dealing with people in the royal capital, fake or not they're all big on charm and theatrics. "Ahoy." Felix said, waving his arm at Tobias.
"Ahoy?" The others all questioned him.
"Well I don't know, I'm usually stealing from them not making introductions." Felix replied.
The carriage made its way in front of the party as it came to a stop, Tobias hopped out and began shaking everyone's hands. "Hello hello, I'm Tobias like I said, and this lovely gentleman is Krager, we're both pleased to meet y'all." Tobias explained as Krager tipped his imaginary hat to the party.
"Nice to meet you." They all take turns saying back to him in response.
"So, are we to walk alongside the carriage? Those beasts look like they can move at quite a pace, it might be hard to keep up." Roxie inquired.
"No, no, there's plenty of space inside the carriage for you all, even the big guy, it's way more spacious than it looks, and the cargo only takes up space beneath the floor boards, so we can sit on top. Which reminds me, I don't know y'alls names aside from High Five." Tobias said, chuckling.
The party all take turns introducing themselves before climbing aboard the carriage, and surprisingly Zander did fit quite comfortably once sat down on the bench. Inside the carriage was a bench that spanned the full length on each side and one across the front that connected them in a U shape, there was a table in the middle, with cabinets above head, and everything top to bottom was all handcrafted from the same teak as the carriage base.
Now out on the road they expect to arrive in Aquarine in 3 days time, giving Krager ample time to rest each day. They stop on the first night, just off the main road somewhere outside of Darkwell, another royal city in Cokphist. They continue with the same watch rotation they established on their first quest together. The night goes uneventfully until in the middle of Roxie's watch, she hears rustling in the bushes a little ways past the carriage towards the woods.
She draws back her bow and locks in on the bushes, holding steady she remains calm, waiting for something or someone to make their way out. All the lanterns on the carriage are out, keeping her hidden in the shadows of the moonlight. A few seconds pass before something finally emerges, A young boy that looks to be a teenager, with a dagger drawn. He slowly approached the carriage, before Roxie let loose an arrow that landed just before him, right between his legs. Frozen in fear, he wanted to run away, but before he could, Roxie had already snuck out the side of the carriage, and made her way behind him, pressing her crossbow into his back.
"Your life is in my hands, why are you here?" Roxie asked.
"I, I, I, I'm." The kid stammered.
"Don't lie to me now." Roxie said, pressing the crossbow harder into his back.
"I wanted to rob this carriage to rebel against my parents." The kid said quickly and bluntly.
"Good work, I appreciate the honesty. You're a fucking moron." Roxie said bluntly. "You have a name?" Roxie asked.
"Jaxson, ma'am." Jaxson replied.
"Ma'am?" Roxie questioned. "That might be worse than trying to rob a carriage with a toy dagger." Roxie continued.
"Sorry ma'am, I mean..?" Jaxson asked, puzzled.
"Roxie, now get your spoiled noble ass back into Darkwell, and think long and hard about this interaction every night you want to rebel against your parents." Roxie proclaimed.
"I will, also it's a real dagger Roxie." Jaxson argued.
"Yea, well it's my real dagger now." Roxie replied.
"My dad is gonna kill me." Jaxson pleaded.
"Anyone of my four companions would have killed you if they were on watch instead of me. Remember that too." Roxie said, shoving Jaxson in the direction of Darkwell, but not before slipping the dagger back into his back pocket. "Live a good life." Roxie quietly shouted at him while he was still in ear shot.
The rest of the night continued to be uneventful like before Roxie's watch, and although nothing happened, during most of Dabi's watch he had a feeling he couldn't shake that there was a presence nearby, but he never felt like he was being watched. Dabi chose to keep this to himself, cause it didn't seem worth troubling the others about yet.
They continued on their journey, preparing coffee and breakfast from supplies kept in the overhead cabinets. Krager sipped on his coffee while he and the clydesdales enjoyed the view of the morning horizon. They made their way to the northern bridge entrance to Aquarine, before the sun began to set on the second day. Nowhere in Aquarine would be open to deliver the goods if they pushed through anyways, so they decided to set up camp again just outside the entrance to the bridge, and make the final stretch in the morning.
Same as the previous night they ate dinner, and everyone made their way to sleep, with the exception of the watch rotation. Not long into Dabi's watch, he looked around and took in the scenery. He noticed there were many other carriages stopped all around the immediate area, like this was a common rest area before entering Aquarine. What caught his attention most was the way the moonlight glimmered off the waters of Raging Lake, and that inescapable presence he felt the night before.
Keeping a close eye on his surroundings, he figured with the many other carriages, they would be an unlikely target, but something didn't feel right. Just then an arrow soared at Dabi's head, and with a split second reaction he dodged it as it landed in the tapestry. Not a second later the arrow combusted, igniting the section of the tapestry where Dabi was sitting outside. With haste Dabi hurled nearby sand and dirt at the flames before they could spread, extinguishing them.
Jumping into the back of the carriage, Dabi woke up Zander by slapping his face. "Hey big guy, wake everyone up, something's happening." Dabi said hurriedly.
Hopping back outside, Dabi tried to sense where the arrow must have come from, but sensed no peering eyes or murderous intent. Getting worried, the others made their way outside the carriage. Before they could say anything Dabi pointed at the burn marks and half charred arrow sticking in the tapestry.
"Got it." Felix said confidently.
They all prepared for combat, standing there, waiting, but nothing happened. After a couple minutes Zander and Dabi stayed prepared, while Krysis, Felix, and Roxie removed the arrow and inspected it. No markings, no symbols, no identifiable features, it was just an arrow, and what's more, they couldn't figure out how it combusted.
Unable to return to sleep, they woke Krager up, made him some coffee, and loaded up for the final stretch of the journey. Almost too early to catch it, Krager and the clydesdales got to enjoy the morning sunrise over the horizon of Raging Lake, and after one short bridge ride in, the party and the carriage were finally in Aquarine, and the job was now halfway done.