E and Brock entered into the street. It was about mid afternoon. The town had become a lot more lively in the few hours E had been here. A couple of the carriages that pulled into town had moved from the stable, parked themselves on the street, and opened up stalls of their own. New faces kept rolling in. E started to wonder, " Why did dad want me to come to town before tomorrow? What's going to happen? And where are people coming from some of these carriages look quite nice compared to the towns overall aesthetic.
" Hey be.. Brock you said you came to town to work for money and stuff. Do you know why everyone is showing up?"
" Oh yeah there a few contests going on this weekend, some of them are recruiting venues in disguise. A cooking contest, Eating contest, Wrestling contest, Archery contest, and a few more. I was hoping to get picked up by some guys who didn't want to do dirty work. I'm just trying to move out of the mountains. I didn't like it there. But now we can do our own thing." Brock smiled back at E and gave a thumbs up.
" Huh, so like adventurer games and stuff. You said people recruit party members during these events. Interesting." Once again E's eyes lit up. It was like it was meant to be. He somewhat felt he likely missed an opportunity to join a strong group, but then he felt like he hit the jackpot. "I'm going to steal all the hidden talent" he thought.
The two of them made their way to the Smiths just up the road. It was a pretty unique building. A small inside shop with wares, and a heated forge in an overhang attached to the building. The two of them approached a smith working on an anvil.
" Excuse me sir are you the owner of this establishment?" Everest spoke up to overshadow the pounding of the hammer.
" Yes, I am. What can I do for you?" The blacksmith said as he took off his gloves and wiped the sweat and grime from his face revealing a relatively young human male. Not much older than E.
" Hi, we're looking for some javelins and arrows? Perhaps even just the heads would do."
" Ah yeah, sorry nope. I sell my heads directly to the Fletcher his shops next to the stable." E and Brock sighed and turned to leave and then the blacksmith stopped them. " I'll trade you some though. If we can make a deal. The coin for the arrows would be a hard thing to do, he stocked up for the events this weekend and I'd be remised to hurt his sales after we made a deal. What do you think?"
" Sure what are you looking for I have some rabbits I caught just these past two days, rock solid in this cold here. or....?"
" I was thinking about a task actually. See my fire has been breathing quite rough and it's a pain in my ass to reach into the chimney here to scrub it. But your little friend there may fit just right. By the way names Russell, Russell Brandt." He extended his hand and gave E a firm shake.
" I'm E and this is Brock. Nice to meet you. Well what do you say Brock you up for it? Saves me coin on these that we can put towards our armor."
Brock seemed to have a bit more understanding of this type of deal. He replied with wit " Sure, What's the most arrow and javelin heads you're willing to trade for this deal? If the price is right I'll even spit shine it and clean out your ash."
E was takin back at his bargaining skill, perhaps he should do the trading when the time came. Russell gave them both a pretty decent offer " I'll make you 12 arrow heads an 4 Javelin tips, they'll be crude and I won't offer above average time investment, but I can have them ready by tomorrow night. Clean this today and let me get some heat back in her so I can be ready for the events."
E looked at his quiver he only had 8 arrows. He was a good shot so he had always been able to retrieve them and even if the shaft split he'd have his tips. He liked the trade but it wasn't his efforts so he looked to Brock. Brock looked back and after seeing E's approval they agreed. E made a counter offer for Russell to make 10 arrow and 5 Javelin tips. He agreed and Brock got to work.
E left Brock to take care of their deal and sought out a tailor. He thought about how ratty looking Bean would look after working and it pushed him to raise the standard a bit. Not to mention his clothes weren't the best either, he'd had them for a few years and he had patchwork inseams do to growing. After walking through the main road a bit he couldn't find a shop. However he did see a nice carriage that had linen's and cloths draped over a large rack with a variety of colors. He decided he would check it out.
" Hello there welcome to my Caravan shop here you will find a nice selection a material I have gathered on my travels. Some of the fabric's are from as far away as the Great Elven lakes of A'pesh. I can even fashion simple garb from them" The peddler said, he had an accent E had never heard and was fairy tanned, the words rolled and bounced off his tongue in a strong cadence.
" Oh wow awesome I've never heard of the great lakes but I actually am in need of some clothes for myself and my compatriot. Would we be able to work out a deal with these Rabbits I have? or perhaps them and some coin?"
" Yes that sounds feasible to me. I am a bit peckish and I could use the furs. What exactly are you looking to have made? And how large is your friend?"
" Uh well he's uh... small. Like a kid size ya know. About yay big" E put a hand just above his waist " For him could we get like a full set like a shirt, pants, and some underwear? I would really just need a new shirt. Something not prone to tearing, a sturdier fabrics even at the cost of comfort. Just not wools, I hate the itch."
" Sure not a problem. I can make it out of some blended fabric I have, less comfortable means a bit cheaper so this works well for both of us. What say 2 Gold?"
E thought hard about it, compared to the deal Brock struck with the blacksmith this felt super expensive but then again he didn't know how much the arrow and javelin heads cost in material and labor compared to tailoring. "Either way Brock drastically needs clothes and I have a emergency fund I guess" he thought
" Okay deal but I expect quality work for the price how long should it take you?"
" I can get it done by this evening come back in say four hours, you're my first customer so I will work with diligence."
They shook hands and made the trade. E recounted his funds, 2 gold , 7 silver, 24 copper. Rounding it out to just over 3 gold left. E thought about how much their armor would cost. Not to mention the Fletcher affixing the heads they will have soon. " Haaaaah I may need to dip into it already, unless I can find some work of my own. We really need a quest, but we need supplies first!"
Since he had some downtime while Brock worked for Russell, E decided he would do some research he found a bench in front of the inn, took a seat, then activated his class menu.
Class - Ranger
Class - Seer
He looked at the tabs. He had been wondering if everyone has two classes, his dad and mom never mentioned two. Is it a fluke or is it normal. He decided he would touch the Seer tab.
Class - Seer
A specialist in application of
//////[Classified]//////
{Hidden Class}
{Second class varient only}
Core stats applied
Class skills - Skill Surveyor, Combative Chess, Identify ability Lv 1, Copycat
Everest tried to make sense of it. He touched his Skill Surveyor ability and another window popped up.
Skill Surveyor
Seer class exclusive skill, Allows the Seer to identify the Class skills of another person up to a limit at the cost of MP. Specific class unique skills may be hidden.
"Hmm so this allows me to see someone's skills? How does that help me? Outside of picking good teammates what else". E quickly re-read the skill again. "Hmm well I won't be caught off guard by some crazy abilities." What about this one. He closed the tab and clicked Identify ability Lv 1
Identify ability Lv1
Allows the user to identify the target party members ability paths and avenues of growth. Analysis accompanied with the Skill Surveyor skill may help breed unique Skills or Classes. Activation requires MP.
" Holy shit wait... Does this mean I can help them maximize their efforts? What do I just act like a know it all and tell them to learn specific things? What are the rest of these then?? He clicked on the Combative Chess skill
Combative Chess Lv 0
Provide proper information and guidance to party members to create unique tactics and combinations or tandem formations and skills. Requires in depth knowledge of party members skills and personalities.
Does not require MP at low levels.
Everest began to understand. "I'm a Leader, If I do this right and pick my teammates accordingly we can't lose."
He closed his menu when he looked up briefly to a familiar face. It was Jasper
" Aye greenhorn inspecting your class huh? How'd it go ?"
" Hey Jasper yes I was just checking stuff out haha, I didn't get a Knight class, But here look at my card" E handed his guild card over to Jasper, he thought maybe to bring up his seer class but after seeing hidden class and classified on its description he thought perhaps he should wait and learn more about it first.
" Oh ho hoo. Look at that a Ranger, eh oh really your a ..." He looked him up and down. " Be careful who you show that to boy, I'm not an asshole like some folks but they're some unsavory ilk all over. Says here ya got a party already, can't say I'm surprised Rangers a good thing have at your back. Called shots saved my hide before. So who are these Wood Knights where are they?"
E tensed up, he completely forgot about the racial identity section of the card. At least Jasper was kind hearted enough. As far as E knew it's normal that's how he grew up and his parents were madly in love he dare not think of what's happening to the hide of that buck right now. " Oh uhm yeah I made a party of my own. I got a single addition to my team right now he's helping the blacksmith right now with some work"
" Oh you're lucky enough to find someone with skills at a forge that'll be great for repairs. Good eye Ladd. We'll come bring em round and 'ave a drink here to celebrate. Not to often you'll find skilled crew. See you soon." With that Jasper walked inside. E thought it best not to correct him and he took his word to heart.
He got up and went to check on Brock.
Up the road Brock had just finished his work and he stepped out of the chimney. Russell looked to him and at the job he did with appreciation. The goblin is completely covered in soot, his clothes are completely done he thought. " Here's a clean rag clean yourself up you did well for me. I may have some spare shirts that are unfit to forge in due to the spark and shrapnel holes give me just a sec." Russell walked inside. Brock looked out onto the street he had garnered a few onlookers. Then he noticed E and waved.
" Holy crap he's like a shadow hahaha." E approached him as he wiped himself off, it barely did the trick he had certainly become a very grayed version of himself. " So how'd it go, all cleaned up? I'll have your clothes ready in a couple more hours. Looks like you did a good job." E looked into chimney. He admitted internally regardless of Bean's tact he certainly put in the effort.
" I'd say it's pretty good for a couple hours work. Got crap in my eyes a handful of times but I think I drove a good bargain on it." Bean smiled, his teeth shown ever bright under his contrasting color. A moment later Russel walked out of his small shop and tossed over a shirt to Brock.
" Thanks for your effort wee man. It'd have taken me a day or two to get into the spots you had. I'll have your stuff ready tomorrow midday swing by then. If necessary I'll always take you up on another cleaning while you're here." Brock opened the large shirt in his hands and pulled it over his current attire they were leagues better than his tattered mess but went down to his nees. He was a silly sight. Russell pulled a belt off his rack and tossed it over. The buckle fit for a saddle. Bean clasped it to his waist. It somewhat made it less silly looking.
E and Brock said their goodbye and walked back towards the inn. Even though they had a new shirt for Brock he was super dirty. They decided to book a room in the Guild Leaves. Entering this building they saw the same layout again except the large center room had a few quest boards in place of seating. They moved to the back to rent a room. After a small transaction they rented a small room for 3 silvers a night. At least they had a community shower. They went to their room and got ready to bathe.