Drip-Fed

By now, the Inevitable Party had a general idea of what was and was not a rich outpost of the Adventurer’s Guild. From cabins at Dungeon entrances to massive complexes at the heart of an island, they had seen just about everything. The guild they entered now was an odd one.

The wealth that came with the proximity to Tenour, the capital Leaf of the Sleeping Empire, allowed the structure to stand taller than its operating need required. In its dimensions, it was only a step removed from the large complex of Alarshus’ capital. Unlike that brimming building, however, there were barely twenty people in these halls, three of whom were the barkeeper, the guild clerk, and a supporting waitress.

Apexus pulled the door shut behind him – the second door. To insulate against the cold, there had been a two-pace corridor between a thick, outer door and a regular inner door. It also served as a spot to stomp the snow off their soles before they dragged it inside.

Conversations, already quiet, were reduced to murmurs. “No, none of y’all know us,” Reysha answered the question uttered between them. “We just arrived, that’s why we’re dressed for another weather.”

“Reysha…” Aclysia sighed.

“What?” the redhead asked.

Apexus supported his first love’s disappointment with a light shake of his head. “It is rude to listen in on their conversations. They made the effort not to be heard.”

“Thought I’d spare them the speculation is all.”

‘I’m stuck with a bunch of weirdos,’ Korith thought, brushing a last snowflake off the curve of her horns. ‘Who enters a bar like this?’

The Ragressian’s declaration had the gathered adventurers a bit confused and offended. None of them were in a mood to act on it though. This was a winter Leaf and temperaments typically ran as cold as the falling snow. Getting injured in a passionate brawl was a lot less attractive when a busted nose turned into a potentially lethal injury due to freezing blood.

They moved up to the business half of the fusion of bar and guild administration. Scrutinizing gazes stayed on them, their shame diminished by Reysha’s entry. They weren’t going to get into a fight, but they were going to listen in on the people that had listened in on them.

Aclysia sighed again, muttering a simple, “This is why I do the talking,” under her breath, before addressing the clerk. “Greetings. We are the Inevitable party. We request an updated sheet for our Levels.”

“Sure thing,” the clerk, a woman in her mid-forties, answered readily. She reached for the stack of copper cards behind the desk, sitting there for these common checks.

Apexus raised a hand. “I request that you make it on iron.”

“…You said you were the Inevitable party?” the clerk slowly asked.

“Apexus, Aclysia, Reysha and Korith,” he listed their names. “We have a long track record of successful missions on Alarshus.”

The clerk nodded slowly, then pulled a register out from under the table. This Leaf was not terribly far away from Alarshus and communications were frequent by means of Distance Feathers anyhow. Any prominent party there would at least be registered here.

The woman blinked a couple of times as she read their entry. It was an impressive list of achievements, doubly so due to the small timeframe they had worked in. Their time on Alarshus had certainly made them accomplished enough that they could ask for an iron card wherever they went. Typically, even upper ranks of adventurers asked for copper, because it was cheaper for the guild. Apexus only insisted because of the leaps and bounds they had made since the last one.

“In reference to your… last cleared Quest, the Guild has made note that you are to receive silver cards, if you request them,” the clerk revealed.

“That makes sense, you don’t work for a god every day…” Korith trailed off when she realized she was thinking aloud. Aclysia gave her a disappointed stare. “It was an accident!”

“We will stand out anyway, bubble butt,” Reysha remarked. “Dunno why you’re trying to lay low.”

“Because seeking attention is the sign of an addled mind, too busy seeking validation to reflect on internal matters.” Arms crossed, Aclysia sighed yet again, hanging her head for emphasis. “I apologize for our oddity. It has been a few weeks since we had a normal conversation with people besides ourselves.”

“And… well… conversations between us are rarely normal,” Korith added.

Apexus tilted his head. “I think they’re normal?”

“Yeah, as normal as a… slug crossing… a cabbage field…?” The kobold tried her hand at an Apexusism. She was uncertain if she had even remotely succeeded.

“As normal as the louse upon a leaf.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Would you… like the silver card?” The guild clerk reluctantly weighed in. Just the reputation on the page had her shift from disinterested to supplication. They had just a handful of similarly levelled adventurers on this Leaf. Another four joining would make the entire land safer.

“Yes,” Apexus responded. “To warn you, I have unusual blood. It is clear.”

“Noted.”

“And mine is of gold,” Aclysia reported in equal measure.

“Good to know.”

The clerk was just being nice. She didn’t really care what colour the blood was, though the warning from Apexus was good. Clear was one colouration that she really was not used to seeing. After fetching four silver cards from a locker in the back, she drew a couple of drops of Apexus’s internal fluids by pricking his thumb. As soon as she had what she needed, she grabbed her Scribe’s feather and began the little ritual.

Her hand and wrist moved with utter certainty, tracing the lines of mana her honed instincts saw in the blood. Interaction with the underlying, all-knowing network of the Omniverse’s silver flows allowed her to put words to realities she herself did not understand. She was just a conduit, a Scribe that wrote down what the great tree dictated.

Had she thought about what she was writing down as she did it, she would have stopped twice while doing so.

“W-w-what?!” she stammered when she put the feather down. By now, the various listeners and onlookers were entirely silent, following the events with keen interest. “I-I mean… here you go, sir, mighty adventurer, sir!”

Apexus received his card. His Class had changed from Omniverse Chimera to Monk of Many Forms. An odd title for an odd being. More important was the number by his name, a number that Reysha shouted out for the people in the back. “Level 46, is it? Wow!”

The number came down on everyone else like a hammer strike. The interested silence changed into a flabbergasted one. To be in the presence of prolific adventurers was one thing, to be next to a party at the cusp of the Common Art was a whole other.

The other cards were handed over one after another. Reysha was at Level 43, her Class retitled to Nightblade. Korith had become a Level 45 Hoardknight. Aclysia’s Level had risen to 45 as well, her Class now Summer Angel.

“Ehm… would you…” The clerk cleared her throat, then continued in a conspiratorial whisper. “Would you like to share with the Guild how you achieved such explosive growth?”

“No,” Apexus responded, clearly. They had debated it and come to the conclusion that it would be dangerous to share this knowledge. It could inspire copycats at best, who were guaranteed to fail. The alchemy involved had only worked because it was Apexus who had done it. At worst, people could decide that they needed to harvest him for materials.

“…Okay… uhm… as the strongest adventurers on the Leaf, there are a number of jobs that only you could do… would you like me to grab them?”

The party had to digest that question for a second.