Honestly, the transition from the accommodations of nobility, to returning to basic inns was a rather painful shift. No more were the silk sheets and soft down mattresses, and returned to us were the cheap basic and scratchy sheets with feather matrices that occasionally poked you with a stray feather. Had it not been for the 100k gold that was given out 20k to each of us, it would have been nigh unbearable. Instead I had grand plans, gone would be the ratty attire I had traveled with for days on in, and a warm welcome would be extended to the new clothes I would buy with my newfound money. I was practically giddy about the Idea before a knock came to my door.
"Thalia, Liora, Victor said we needed to meet him downstairs once you all are dressed."
It felt like someone had thrown a rock at the glass pane of my dreams of enjoying my day as I grumbled incessantly to myself as Thalia silently got dressed next to me. Thalia was a bit of an odd ball, but much to my delight, she seemed to be trying to learn normalcy as of late.
"What do you think we will run into down there?"
I asked Liora, turning to see how she would respond. She simply shrugged as I sighed and walked over tapping her shoulder in the way I had gone over. She turned and asked.
"Was that another awkward response, I really don't know so I gestured as such."
I nodded, hearing her explanation as I crossed my arms and leaned on my right leg.
"True, but just shrugging will make people think your brushing them off, generally for situations like this a response could be. "I don't know, but I hope we still get to do X.""
I said giving an example as I finished getting on my pants and grabbed my stuff, spinning it in that practiced way I did just in case I could do it to look like a badass in front of a young adventurer and have them idolize me.
"The message conveys basically the same thing whether I gesture, or say it aloud, so whats the difference?"
Thalia asked as she grabbed Sir Oinks a lot who had been peacefully snoozing on the bed as he nuzzled into her arm and went back to bed.
"The difference is your offering something about yourself, conversations are always a give and take of information, and people find those who don't give anything to be offputting, so you need to give something, be it even something as small as what you want to do today without being asked directly, it gives insight as to your thought process and allows for the conversation to build from there."
I explained as we made our way down the stairs. Waiting for us below was Aiden, Selene, Jax, and the fox girl sitting on one side of the table, the fox girl still very much unsure of how to sit in a chair, so partially standing as Victor across the table pointed at a quest page and said.
"Trrrrrrrust me, quests that rrrreferrrrrence movies arrrrrrre the ones that generrrrrrally have the best hidden loot."
Thalia and I walked over to where the other stood as I noticed Thalia give the fox girl the stink eye for a moment before I read the quest
Missing Rat Employee Investigation (E)
The eccentric owner of Gruffsnout's Gnaws & Noshes, a rat-run restaurant in Lushfort, has grown increasingly paranoid after one of his rat employees named Scramble hasn't shown up in two days. He believes the missing worker may have sold secret recipes to a rival cat-themed restaurant. Locate Scramble and determine if any culinary betrayal has occurred.
Reward – 800 Gold + 1 Secret Recipe
Failure – 500 Gold deducted for false lead compensation and stress relief cheese
I glanced around to the others as a general consensus shot through us. What is a movieHow does a rat restaurant that has a paranoid chef reference thatAre we positive this wasn't posted by a bored kid
The fox girl stared at the poster for a moment as she tapped a paw at a few of the words from time to time as Jax spoke them aloud and explained what they meant in natural. She seemed to perk up at the word rat as she asked in broken common.
"Place where eat rat made?"
"A-Actually the rat is the chef and he makes food for people, the rats are not for eating."
Fox girl stared for a moment before Jax whispered in her ear and she got a sad look on her face and stepped back.
"Ok, but in all seriousness, this looks like it was posted by a kid as a prank, are we positive this is an actual quest?"
Victor nodded as if there were all good points before he placed his paw down, reaching into a small bag as he grabbed a second quest and slid it across the table.
"Im not only assigning you all this quest, I am splitting you into teams of 3, so Jax, Selene, and the new fox girrrrrrrrrrl will be in charrrrrrrrrge of handling the rrrrrrrattastrrrrrrrophy while Aiden, Liorrrrrra, and Thalia will be instead doing this quest"
Radiant Menace Elimination (D)
A dangerous Luminous Cobalt Dungeness Crab has been spotted off the Sapphire Coast, reportedly disrupting shipping lanes and searing local wildlife with bursts of radiant energy. Captain Orlin Thatch of the Tidepier Guild has issued an official kill contract, claiming the beast is fully active and must be exterminated before it recovers further. Locate and kill the Luminous Cobalt Dungeness Crab. Proof of kill (carapace shard or radiant gland) must be provided.
Reward – 2800 Gold + 1 Radiant Gland
Failure – 1600 Gold penalty for damages caused by a failed hunt, and hazard pay to other contracted adventurers
As we stared at the second quest I looked up and said.
"Uh, that's a D rank quest, like the quests taken on by Late obsidian rank adventurers to Steel rank, we are still not even out of porcelain rank, what do you expect us to do here? Tag along, help another party handle this, watch you fight and take notes?"
"No, you, Aiden, and Thalia will be fighting this crab and I will be watching."
"But without our frontliners, we will only have Aiden to reply on for not getting killed…. No offense Aiden."
Thalia added as I tapped her leg under the table to let her know she was missing something.
"No I agree with you, sure I have gotten at least better at using a spear, I am nowhere near being able to take on a D rank monster, hell I think even if all of us were there we would at best wound it before getting massacred."
Victor raised an eyebrow as he gave a calm smile and asked
"What if I told you it would be at the strength of an E rank monster for 3 hours in the next two days?"
We all perked up and stared at Victor as he gave a small chuckle and said.
"The crab is going to molt, leaving its normal impregnible defenses reduced enough for us to hurt it, and with all the energy it will expend molting it will be wide open for an attack."
"Ok, but that still leaves a what, high E rank monster with half of our team and no core frontliners?"
I asked, getting increasingly worried about just how good a teacher this cat could actually be. Victor smiled and this time it seemed a bit more sinister.
"Relax, only thrrrrrrough grrrrrreat adverrrrrrsity can one grrrrrrow strrrrrrrongest, plus I alrrrrrrrready signed you up forrrrrrr the quests, so unless you want to pay the 1200 gold fee forrrrrr failing the quest, I suggest you get moving."
The table was still for a moment as Aiden, Thalia, and I quickly scrambled up the stairs, could we pay the fine for failing, sure, but even now that we had a lot of gold on hand, 1200 is still 1200, so we all went running up the stairs to grab our gear as we yelled in unison.
"You stupid HAIRBALL!!"