Five weary travelers walked to the front gates of Wolfsburg in the early morning hours, bundled in ragged furs and tattered woolen cloaks pulled around them to combat the cold of Winter. Seeing a group like this entering the city wasn't out of the ordinary for the guards on duty. The cold snap had taken everyone by surprise and wearing layers of clothing with furs on top was the new fashion style when outside the city walls. These five had the look of adventurers with heavy backpacks, bedrolls, belt pouches, potion bandoliers, and an assortnt of weapons on each of them. They broke into a jog when they got close to the city, anxious to get inside the walls. The sergeant stepped to the middle of the road and held up a hand.
"Hold up for a mont, travelers. We need to ask you a few questions before you enter."
"Oh, sure, but can we do it off to the side by your brazier? We haven't been warm for two days."
The sergeant smiled at that and gestured for them to huddle around the fire. He felt the sa way on cold nights. "Warm yourselves up while we talk. First question: Are any large monsters chasing you? Angry tribes or packs of anything? Vengeful daemonic cults?" It was a standard question to get adventurers talking and often yielded interesting answers.
"Maybe? We pissed off a group of WinterIce Chanters who were doing sothing bad. We got a quest to disrupt their Weather Witching ceremony. When the Weather Witch they were summoning showed up, we nailed her in the face with snowballs and she went ballistic on the Chanters. She killed most of them with Enhanced Lightning Bolts before she flew away. She was really, really pissed off."
"Pissed, and beautiful."
"Don't get started with that, Franky, please? Anyway, the Chanters whistled for their mounts and chased after us on so big dog-hippo things and we had to jump into a river to get away. That nearly killed us. Then, we spent two days hiding in a small cave that turned out to be infested with Gibberlings. They didn't have much treasure, but we took the fur rugs they had in their lairs and used them for winter clothes."
The sergeant sighed, "And that would explain why so of you are scratching constantly. Next ti you'll want to have a Druid or Shepherd rid the furs of fleas first. Alright, I think we can handle a few Chanters if they show up. Nas, Levels, and Classes, please. It's all kept confidential."
"Ricardo Montenegro, Dungeon Scout, Level 17."
"Frank N. Furter, Stalwart Defender, Level 16."
"Hasslehoffen, Arcane Dabbler, Level 19."
"Dandio, Sword-Bard, Level 16."
"Swiftfoot, Warrior-rchant, Level 16."
The Sergeant lowered his voice and smiled at them. "We have a daily special, here at the north gate. For only 1 gold each I'll put down the little lies you just told . Or you can enter for free and my report will show that your party included a Half-Elf Rogue, Half-Ogre Berserker, Human Hedge Witch with a Chaos tattoo, a Human Bardic-Romancer, and a Halfling Pastry-Thief. Either way, I'll give you a map to a bathhouse next to a 2nd hand rchant who sells cheap clothes, and my favorite bar."
Ricardo couldn't help but smile and Swiftfoot let out a low whistle. "Wow, you saw all of that? Even his tattoo? Impressive."
The Sergeant nodded, "Getting a lot of practice these days. So, what will it be lads?"
"Oh, we'll pay, and thank you for your service, and the map." One exchange of gold for a map and they were on their way.
Ricardo turned to his friends, "This is a step up from the little towns we went through. Let's be careful here. That ans no stealing, Swifty, and stay away from the girls, Dandio."
"And the boys?"
"Them too. Just behave for once. We need to find out how the hell we get to Gadobhra with all the Teleporters out. It's a hell of a long way to travel. Maybe we can find a carriage or sothing." Five baths and so surprisingly cheap second-hand clothing made them feel like new n. The bar wasn't bad at all, and they could spend the night there. Showing the bartender the Sergeant's map got them a 10% discount and probably earned the guard a kickback of so sort.
The bar was obviously ant as a hang-out for adventuring. They'd only been there a half hour and already been offered an assortnt of quests cleaning rats and rabid badgers from basents, finding lost children, stealing an idol from an old temple, and delivering dubious-looking bags of sothing that slled bad to the steps of the Ducal palace.
They turned them all down but noted the place as a good starting spot for anyone in the guild who needed to reroll their character. It wasn't happening as much as it had in the early days, but as more and more information about the ga was discovered, so people beca upset at missed opportunities or quests that would have let them gain a much better, or more interesting, class when they tiered up. Not that starting over guaranteed that, but so people had to try to achieve whatever they thought was 'the perfect build'. Not every mber of the Guild of Blackguards was a max-min gar, but certainly 75% were. The exception was the won from the HR departnt. They were just crazy and looking for a good ti. Ricardo's group tried to keep their distance from them, even the bard.
Dandio spent so ti chatting up the barkeeper and inquired about the possibility of a rchant caravan heading North or the cost of buying horses. The barkeeper kept his voice low as he wiped the beer mugs with a dirty towel. "Oh, I might have a bit of information for you, at that. Buy a round for your friends with a generous tip and I can tell you how to find a fair-dealing horse trader with an interesting set of mounts for sale." Dandio did so, having had every intention of buying more beer anyway. The barkeep motioned with his chin to a man in the far corner enjoying a roast chicken and a bottle of wine. "That's him over there. Calls himself Jack, but when I was in the Legion I knew him as Decurion Faustus. And you didn't hear that from . He was trying to sell a fine set of ponies earlier to a group, but they didn't have more than a few coppers on them and asked for a loan. Jack just shook his head and laughed."
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Dandio grabbed the beers and passed the info to Ricardo. The two of them went over to visit with Jack. Jack was a smallish man with a tanned and weathered face. 'Hardbitten' described him well, but he smiled as they ca up to talk. "Sit and rest your feet, you look like you traveled far today. Walking keeps a man healthy, but your feet pay for it at the end of the day. You look like a couple of Legion vets after a fifty-mile march, not sure which sore foot to stand on."
They sat down and he shared the bottle of cheap wine he was having with his al, filling their mugs half full when they'd finished their beers. "We hear you might have a way to take the load off of sore feet. We need five good mounts for traveling."
He looked at them for a mont, then at the rest of the party. "I might have just the thing, especially with you having that hefty boy in your group. The Legion buys dwarven mine ponies when they can. Stout beasts with tough hides and tougher teeth. I've seen them chew gravel when there was no other fodder. The Legion loves them because they don't complain and can walk forever, unlike so of the lazy sods I served with. Anyway, I happen to have a few I can let go to the right people and a mule for your big guy. In this weather, you don't want sothing pretty, you want sothing tough. I could let you have the five of them for 35 gold. They'll even co with saddles and tack, used stuff I repair. A friend saves it up and gives it to in return for a little drinking money."
"Thirty-five gold is pretty steep, how many travelers are there looking for mounts? How about 25?"
"You'd be surprised, what with the Teleporters down. Few places you can even get to and the Mages will charge you dearly. But I like you boys, I'll give them to you for 33." A half-hour of haggling later, they'd agreed on 30 gold. Jack was drawing up a bill of sale and casually asked them where they were headed.
"Rowan Keep and then on to Gadobhra."
Jack looked up, interested. "Really? For the dungeons I suppose? Dangerous territory but they say gold is pouring out of the place in a river and even the farrs are wearing enchanted gear and fighting monsters. I wish I was 20 years younger. I'd pop up there for a little delving on a slow day. But tell the truth. Are you headed to Gadobhra? I may have a better deal for you."
"We are. What's the better deal."
Jack leaned in close and whispered, "The Baron has a Teleport Stone now. Leads right to the city. But the Mages Guild hates him with a passion. They charge a fortune to go there and only let certain rchant houses use the direct route. You'd save a couple of weeks of travel and dodging wolves on the way there. I happen to know a Mage that owes considerable favors, like keeping my mouth shut about where he goes on certain nights. I could wrangle you a teleport for only 25 gold."
Ricardo was not looking forward to more traveling through the cold. "You have yourself a deal, Jack."
The group decided to head out imdiately, anxious to see the city. It was easy to find the Teleport Stone Jack had told them about. It was sending people out like clockwork, every minute. At the head of the line, Ricardo said, "Kallvek trading house, party of five, complints of Jack the Horse Trader. Heading to Gadobhra."
The Mage didn't bat an eye, "All good, stand on the stone, don't move, hold your hands at your sides, and no horseplay. Not responsible for people goofing off and leaving parts of themselves here." The party disappeared, on their way to Gadobhra. The next group in line was a party of eight players.
"How much to go to Gadobhra?"
"You look like stout adventurers. Heading to the Baron's dungeons?"
"Aye, we need a challenge. How much to get there?"
"You'll be happy with the price. No charge if you are heading to Gadobhra, complints of Baron William. Stand on the stone, don't move, hold your hands at your sides, and no horseplay. Not responsible for people goofing off and leaving parts of themselves here."
Back in the bar, Jack had slipped the barkeep 5 gold, splitting the take evenly between them. He excused himself, and a few monts later a different man sat down to enjoy the rest of the chicken dinner at another table. A group of seven new players ca in, all dwarves.
"We hear soone is selling real dwarven mine ponies?"
The barkeep nodded to the old man in the corner. "Didn't hear it from , but old Ferny back there is a quarter dwarven on his mother's side. He buys and sells horses to the Legion and is known to have so good stout ponies." The players bought beer, tipped him, and went to work out a deal with the man called Ferny. An hour later he was showing them seven ponies in a nearby stable, "Ignore the Legion marks on the old equipnt, those styles are discontinued and I buy them up cheap. Sa with the brands on the nags. Why they'd change from that beautiful brand to a G for Gus, is beyond , but they sell these beautiful mounts cheap. By the way, where are you headed?"
"We have a contract to mine coal and a quest to find a lost passage to Dura Duram. Need to travel west for a week."
"West is so tough country, but these are the ponies to get you there, and they can pull your ore carts in the mines. I can let you have them for 35 gold each."
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