章 39: New Plan
The night came in quickly and by the time it was dark the camp had settled into a comfortable environment, as everyone sat around the fires enjoying their meals, chatting jovially amongst themselves. Even the presence of the seven Adventurers eating with Eraldu didn't dampen the mood. Afterall, this caravan had been on the road for several months, in harsh conditions where one could never lower their guard. They had even lost friends, which loss only further heightened the strenuous journey as they each faced their own mortality as they buried their dead.
Now, the Hunters could almost taste civilization. They were hours away from the Bazaar, where they would have clean beds, good food, strong drink, women and most importantly safety.
They could finally sleep a full night without always being half awake, twitching at every stray sound that the night would produce, their next guard shift always looming over them. Though the area directly around towns were relatively safe, they were not in town yet, and thus remained vigilant and sober. This was due to citizens who would get their start as warriors by taking on beast clearing requests for the towns vicinity. Making the area around the towns a sort of safe haven. Not to say that there were no beasts in the area around the towns, but the numbers were far fewer, and the larger ones were quickly swept up to avoid damage to the economic stability.
This led to a relaxed and carefree environment among the slave traders. Still, they kept their distance from the adventurers. The adventurers sat at a smaller fire off to the side, with Eraldu to keep them company and to make sure he got all the money he could for hosting them. Another unlikely addition to their circle was the normally reclusive Rackshar, looking for his chance to exploit the situation.
"So, what adventure are you off to on this journey of yours?" Eraldu asked with a slightly condescending smile plastered across his face.
Gearish forced a tolerant smile in return, not failing to miss the jab. "We are actually on our way to explore some ruins. We've heard they might contain traces of an ancient record of their civilization and could possibly lead us to other ruin sites."
Eraldu's fake smile disappeared, quickly replaced with a serious look. "Really? What kind of lead did you get?"
What Hunter didn't know about how valuable ruins could be?
Adventurers explored ruins to uncover lost history, recover artifacts and find connections to other hidden ruins. They sometimes did this while working with archeologists and historians.
Hunters rarely had anything to do with ruins. The effort to find them was normally long, intensive and dangerous. The payoff afterward was often only knowledge that would either lead to more profit free work or a dead end.
All these risks caused the profit hungry Hunters to disdain ruin exploration for the most part. They normally only dealt in contracts that had guaranted money backing it.
But, there were also cases of entire vaults being found intact. Ancient records that lead to forgotten dungeons. Artifacts that were priceless. Even God Cores.
So, while Hunters never hunted ruins, if an easy opportunity fell into their lap, who would say no?
Gearish's eyes lit up with excitement at Eraldu's obvious interest.
"We found it on an old tablet rubbing in our master's library. It talked about a map being stored in the Shan'Dar ruins!"
Rackshar's face did little to hide his contempt, as Gearish traded all his secrets for nothing in return. Although no one noticed since all eyes were focused on Gearish and Eraldu. Each member of the circle knew that what these two leaders were talking about right now could lead to cooperation between the two groups, so they all paid close attention to how the conversation went.
Disappointment hit them faster than they thought it would as they saw Eraldu's face scrunch with contempt.
"A Library? Don't tell me you all are from a Pillar?" Eraldu asked, with thinly veiled disdain.
The 12 Pillars of the humans, while all other human settlements were considered part of the so-called "frontier" and were designated as towns. To live in a Pillar was every Worthy's dream, though few would ever reach it.
Every one of the Pillars was home to at least one of the human gods. They were large swaths of civilization many times larger than any town and had comforts and commodities that those from the frontier could scarcely imagine even if a great story teller described it to them.
Libraries were one of these commodities. Almost no one in the frontier would ever see enough books in their lifetime to make a library let alone own them.
Yet, in this large world of wonders there were those who were born and raised in these paradises that dreamed of mystery and adventure that could only be found in the fabled frontier. These would-be Adventures would find retired Warriors from the frontier to train them and then leave their comfortable lives to go out into the world.
The reason for Eraldu's contempt, and the contempt of the frontier in general, was the distinct lack of longevity found in these soft civilized kids. Few would survive their first trips into the wild and those that did rarely ever left their refuge again.
The frontier was a harsh mistress who barley allowed those born to her to survive. Strangers were not permitted to eat at her table.
Gearish nervously looked around at his companions before he answered haltingly, "we are, from the third Pillar of lord Zax'Carath."
Eraldu drew in a breath to respond, but Gearish hurriedly continued cutting him off, "but we were trained by a great Warrior, an Adventurer by the name if Woshum the Wise. He said we were more than qualified for the frontier! We've already been through several months of travel, but having a veteran with us when we reach the ruins would help us immensely!"
Eraldu waited for the end of Gearish's rambling with a raised eyebrows. A skeptical look he held for several moments after Gearish had finished, as if waiting to see if there would be any further interruption. He drew in another breath to respond when a voice from the side made him choke on it.
"I'll go with them."
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