14 - Meet the Chiefs

Joe woke the next morning, debating about taking the morning off to just lounge in the insanely comfortable bed at the Captain's Glass. In the three weeks he had been in Illuminaria, he had either been driven or had driven himself from one day through the next. Even the two-day celebration after the death of the Night Skinner had not been relaxing; fun, but not relaxing. He was beginning to consider Hah'roo's insistence on some beachtime in a new light.

He rolled over and hugged one of the large pillows as he wriggled down into the mattress, preparing to doze off again. Even the wildness seemed to think a nice warm nap was a grand idea. It rumbled inside his chest and settled down.

Yet Joe's head had other ideas. He began by replaying yesterday's fights. Looking at where he had gone wrong. The gwyllgi fight had been a bit of a fluke. Joe had good defenses against what he thought were its worst abilities. His biggest mistake was not asking Corran more about what made the beast dangerous. Surely to the old fey knight, the barks of the Anwnn hounds were common knowledge. Joe should have asked more questions, so as not to have been caught unaware.

The badboons debacle was down to bad planning on Joe's part. Or to be honest, no planning at all. His skill profile would clearly work best in a team or at least with a partner. If he had had anyone with him who could have distracted the apes for a minute, Joe should have been able to deal with the stun.

Also, he was wasting one of his items. The fight with the death dog showed how much the [Hide of the Night Hunter] could improve his defenses. Joe didn't plan on running around in the jungles fully coated by the hot, hairy pelt, but a wolf-head helm wouldn't be too bad, and it would be a serious deterrent to the stunning [Nut Shots] of the badboons. It also might look pretty bad-ass.

Then there was his offense. He hadn't had a chance to try out the damage from [Hex-Wreaker] yet, but to do so, he would need to drop a curse and then detonate it both while in close range of his target. The nut-hurling simians were not the best opponents for this combo. He needed a longer-range spell. Joe had two free skill points to spend. If he bought an uncommon Spirit-based damage spell, he'd have a sixteen Spirit empowering the skill. That should be more than enough to fry up some apes.

Hah'roo had mentioned the Adventurer's Guild was a good place to discuss skills and builds. Joe idly wondered if the cute girl at the desk would be working again today. He could still picture her as he had first seen her, scribbling away in the bright beam of sunlight from the window behind her.

Suddenly, all thoughts of lounging around vanished. Joe had an overwhelming urge to get moving and see what the guildhouse could tell him about optimizing his range attacks. Throwing off the light blanket and rolling free of the luxurious mattress, he headed to the washroom to clean up. On entering the small chamber, he was disappointed when he recalled there was no shower. His charm would clean him up, but there was something just outright relaxing about soaking under hot streams of a showerhead. It was one of the few things about Earth he had been missing. That and the burritos he got from his favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant two towns over from where his parents lived.

Regardless, he used the wash basin and a cleansing charm to scrub off the dirt and blood, most of it his, from his skin and clothes. He considered trying to brush his hair, but one, it never stayed tamed even when he tried to smooth it down, and two, he didn't own a hairbrush. He slicked it back, realizing it was longer than it should be. Cora from Grace Meadows had cut his hair not long before he had died on Earth, and yet, just three weeks later, it was already over halfway down his neck. He couldn't be certain, but Joe had a sneaking feeling the wildness was behind the rapid growth.

He filed that thought away as he headed out the door. He considered leaving some stuff in his room, but the existence of spatial bags made doing so unnecessary. Carrying everything he owned in his dimbag was just as easy as carrying a portion of it.

Stepping into the hallway set his stomach rumbling. There was food downstairs, and his enhanced nose was picking up a plethora of tasty scents. Joe bounced down the steps and followed the scent trail into a small dining hall. A server there pointed at a buffet table, adding. "Sit anywhere. I'll be with you in just a minute to get your drink order."

The words were so similar to what he would have expected on Earth, Joe found himself pausing to digest the uncanny parallel. But only for a second. The wildness and his stomach growled together, prompting Joe to grab a plate and start filling it.

Fruit, being one of his favorite foods, was first. Most of the glistening cubes of berries looked completely different from anything he was familiar with, but Joe was always game for new food experiences. He filled a small bowl and set it on his plate.

The next item could not have been more Earth-like: a warming tray of what had to be scrambled eggs. These, too, went on top of his dish. The meats were not bacon or ham but close enough that he grabbed a piece, until the wildness shook him hard enough that he went ahead and added a few more slices.

As he settled into a seat, the server came by offering him juice, ale, tea, or onzi, which had to be the coffee-like brew he was smelling from the woman eating across the room. There was also water if he wished. Joe went with juice but let the server pick one for him when a string of new names were presented for him to choose from. What came back was a deep purple, tasting similar to tomato juice with a hint of citrus in it.

Joe had to actively force himself not to overeat. The food was that good. Even if he ended up rooming somewhere else soon, he would still probably come back here and treat himself to a meal at the Captain's Glass every now and then.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Feeling pleasantly full, Joe thanked the server and, noting the lady with the onzi had done so when she left, placed some silver on the table for the pleasant young man. He headed out onto the street and walked for less than a minute to reach the main plaza and the guildhouse.

As he opened the door, his day picked up even more; Kendell was once again behind the counter. She had a slim novelette, its cover adorned by a familiar dashing adventurer. The title read Count Randeau versus the Hydra from Horridune. This time, she looked up as he entered. Her smile on seeing him lit up the room.

"Hey! You're back. How'd it go?"

"Well. Kind of a mixed bag. The ape part was a fiasco, but I did meet Corran Loigen, and we hit it off pretty well. I even was able to do him a favor and so won one in return."

"Wow! Mister Loigen's a tough one. He never causes any trouble, but he doesn't warm up to anyone as far as I have ever heard. Well, anyone except Myllo. Myllo's my boss. He heads out to the old house every month or two to check in on the old man and his dog."

She put the penny dreadful down on the counter and began to speak again when she noticed Joe eyeing the cover. "Hey," the guilder huffed with a laugh in her voice. "It's your fault I'm reading these again. I still can't believe you met him. You are so lucky."

"It's probably a good thing I didn't realize just how famous he is. I might have been even more nervous about working alongside him than I already was. I thought he was just a local hero thing, but here I am in a whole 'nother country, and I find out he's just as big a deal here as he was back there."

"I'm holding you to that telling, Joe. I have to hear what it was like to fight with Count Randeau. But before we get to that, do you want to turn in the quest unfinished? There is no problem or penalty for doing so."

"No, I think it's doable," Joe answered, leaning on her desk. "I just need to find a teammate, and I need some skill advice."

"Then you are in exactly the right place for both. There are a whole bunch of us around your level for you to team up with. I'd offer to go with you; I could use a break. But between here and my parents' shop, I've got no time until Founder's Day."

"What's Founder's Day?" he asked.

"Oh, you'll like it. It's one of our biggest holidays. Lots of pageants and mummery. Great food and, of course, way too much drinking," she announced with a big grin, exaggeratedly rolling her eyes to suggest inebriation. "It's just a few weeks off."

"That sounds like fun," Joe exclaimed. He was not a huge fan of large crowds indoors; the tavern parties he had attended after the Night Skinner's death sometimes had been a bit much for him. But outdoor festivals were almost always a blast.

"Ok, then let's get you set up. Let's get your skills done first. Then we can pair you up with someone or someones. The skill part is kind of my specialty. Do you have an affinity chart I can look at?"

"Uh … nope. I have this trait that blocks divination," Joe admitted hesitantly. "Means I don't really know most of my affinities."

"Huh. That's a new one. Okay. Let me think." Kendell tapped her fingers on the counter a few times before she perked up. "Myllo!' she blurted, snapping her fingers. "Let's go grab my boss. He'll have something for this, I'm sure of it."

She wrote a new note on her chalkboard and gestured for Joe to follow her.

"Do you have any open slots or are you fully allocated?" she asked as they walked past the library.

"I have two free points and a point in Spirit and Vigor," Joe recited from memory.

"That is great," she exclaimed, walking at Joe's side. "Gives us a lot of options."

The two of them strolled past several rooms. Joe glanced into the ones with open doors. Two of them looked like clerk's offices, and the third appeared to be a classroom. The next room was a workshop, which is where Kendell had turned into. The space resembled a school art studio. Objects, both finished and under construction, littered the wall-to-wall shelves and two large worktables. Materials were everywhere, on shelves, in buckets, boxes, and baskets, hanging on the walls and from the rafters.

In the middle of all this creative chaos stood a race Joe could not place. He was too thin for a dwarf, but he had roughly the same height. He also sported a large, braided, and beaded red beard. He had humanish hands and the pointed ears of an elf. His eyes were flecked with metallic colors.

Myllonell Grensward: Korrigan: Conjurer / Artificer / Strategist 34

Korrigan was one of the races Wheeler had talked to Joe about: another fey heritage race like his changeling.

"Hey, Myllo," Kendell called out, extenuating the 'o' for the fun of it. "I have a customer for you. Needs help with skills."

The bearded man looked up from a complicated frame of gems and gears he was holding. He looked back down at the contraption and then returned his gaze to Joe and Kendell.

"Might as well. Pretty sure this," he stated, holding up the device, "is still not right. I have no idea how in the heck it was made, let alone how to fix it for Isais. Let's go do something productive before I chuck this miserable gizmo out a window."

Despite his words, Myllo carefully placed the gadget in a straw-filled box before hopping off his stool. Joe had a moment of disorientation as Myllo approached. When he stuck out his hand to greet Joe, it seemed like he was taller than he had been on the other side of the table. Joe couldn't tell if his eyes were playing tricks on him or if it was some weird perspective about the room.

Regardlessly, he grasped the proffered hand and returned the quick but vigorous shake.

"Nice to meet you, Myllo," Joe exclaimed. "I have been winging it so far, so I would really appreciate any advice you guys might have."

"Smart man. Knowing what you don't know is key to our work in the Guild," the bushy-bearded man replied. "Let's head to Study Two. All the materials are there. You won't mind me taking a look at your scroll, I hope. The secretive ones make this process so much harder."

"I don't mind at all, but I have to warn you it might not work. I have a trait that obscures assessments. The last time I tried to share my scroll, the man I shared it with couldn't read any of it."

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Just the way today has been going. First, Isais's unfathomable widget. Now, an unfathomable new recruit. Why do I get the feeling you are going to be one of those puzzles that keeps me up at night?" the korrigan huffed.

He was about to toss out an answer when he caught sight of Kendell behind the small man, shaking her head. Joe dipped his head in a thankful nod and let the man's rhetorical question slide, while they followed him back down the hall.

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