Chapter Twenty-Four — Rockstack
I moved with a skip to my step. “So, Mister Menu, feel free to tell me about yourself,” I said to the box floating before me. “I’m sorry that I haven’t spoken to you in a while. I was sort of busy. Then again, I know that you’re kind of shy when you’re on the job.”The menu popped away, letting me see the long, treacherous road ahead. A thought made it come back.“Now, now, no running away!” I chided. “I need to grind my new skill. You’re the one who gave it to me. Or at least, I think you are. It doesn’t feel like something Miss Menu would do.”The box just displayed the same thing it had for the past twenty minutes or so.FriendmakingRank F — 13%The ability to make friends. As you practice this skill your ability to make friends will improve.“Come on, I need to get this skill super high so that I can make all the friends!” I told the menu box. “Maybe we can try hugging again?”The box popped away.“No fun!” I called after it.Shaking my head, I refocused on the road and kept on walking. I had an eye open for any interesting plants, but so far all I had found was a nice spread of chamomile to top up my tea reserves. There were other plants along the road, but none that had properties that interested me.I wasn’t about to start carrying around poisons if I could avoid it. That just wasn’t a very nice thing to do.I hopped up to a low hanging branch, then started jumping from tree to tree without using any stamina. It was good practice in case I had to make a run for it.“Mister Menu, can I see my profile please?”
Name
Broccoli Bunch
Race
Human (Riftwalker)
First Class
Cinnamon Bun
First Class Level
4
Age
16
Health
115
Stamina
125
Mana
105
Resilience
25
Flexibility
25
Magic
10
Skills
Rank
Cinnamon Bun Skills
Cleaning
C — 93%
Jumping
C — 57%
Gardening
E — 13%
General Skills
Insight
C — 17%
Makeshift Weapon Proficiency
E — 04%
Archeology
F — 39%
Friendmaking
F — 13%
Skill points
2
Class slots
0
General Skill Points
1
Cleaning was reaching the edge of Rank B. I wasn’t exactly grinding it ceaselessly, but I was trying to make sure that my mana was never completely topped off just so that I didn’t waste any time.Jumping was plodding along as well. It might overtake Cleaning at some point in the near future. My general skills, on the other hand, were falling behind. Insight was the only one slowly ticking up, but the rest? I would need to find a way to get them up a few ranks.It seemed as though the main barrier for skill growth wasn’t experience points at all. Sure, it could take days to get a skill up to max experience, but that didn’t matter if you were going to rely on that skill your entire life. It was the hard limit imposed by skill points that slowed everything down.A month of dedicated practice would be more than enough for me to get every skill up to the highest level they could go, I suspected. Then I would be stuck waiting forever to level up and get just one more skill point to spend. It felt like an almost artificial restriction on what I could accomplish.Annoying, but understandable. If skills allowed the user to become super strong with only minimal effort and some grinding, then they would be completely broken.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.The road forked.I paused at the intersection and took in the two diverging paths. One to my left, deeper into the forests, one straight ahead towards the marshes. Neither towards the mountain city that I assumed was Port Royal.I shuffled around to pull out my backpack, then grabbed the map Leonard had drawn for me. It showed the camp, the road, and indicated the fork with an arrow pointing ahead and towards Rockstack which was, according to the map, not too terribly far. I had crossed half the distance already.The left path continued and ended with a big skull and crossbones symbol. I wondered what was over there. It was pretty clear that Leonard thought it would be too dangerous for me, but he also seemed to think that tying my own shoes was beyond me.“I’ll go check later,” I decided as I replaced the map into my sack.Mid-day came and went. I probably should have stopped for lunch, especially now that I actually had supplies, but instead I stopped for a quick break behind a bush, then after cleaning up, pulled some still-soft-ish bread from the supplies sack I had and nibbled away at it while walking.If I was within only half a day’s distance from Rockstack, then it was worth it to rush back over. There might be an inn, and people too. As much as I was enjoying my time on the road, having a roof over my head, a warm meal in my tummy, and a hot shower before bed sounded heavenly.I was finishing up the last of my bread when I caught sight of smoke between the trees ahead. I paused along the road, then climbed up a tree to see a little better. Not one smokestack, but about five, all of them joining together hundreds of meters above.It had to be Rockstack!My steps were a whole lot faster after I hit the ground. I wanted to make it to the town and I wanted to get there now!Then the road I had been travelling on for a few days now ended. No more cobbles, no more path, not even some flattened dirt to show where it could have been. I took out Leonard’s map and eyed it for a moment. It said to continue, but I had been expecting to follow the road for a while.I ran ahead a ways, skipping over brush and bushes until, between one step and the next, I caught sight of a new road ahead.The stones were well-placed and untouched by roots. The sides had deep ditches with thin rivulets of water at the bottom. The path was even wide enough that two cars might have been able to drive along it side-by-side without issue.“Whoa,” I said as I took it in with a growing smile. Well-maintained roads meant civilisation!I checked Leonard’s map one last time, turned to the left, and started jogging.That didn’t last very long. I might have been working out a whole lot more, but that didn’t mean I was in shape. The weight of the backpack didn’t help, or so I told myself. My jog turned into a fast walk, then an easy, more stable pace as the terrain grew a little hilly.And then, at long last, I crested a hill and saw Rockstack.The first and most obvious thing, the only thing I could see, actually, was the wall. It was a solid barrier of living tree trunks, each one as thick around as my arm-span and nearly completely branchless. What few branches were there all stuck out like the spiny thorns of a cactus.Huge, bulbous bowls sat atop the walls, each one made of some dark bark and big enough to fit half a dozen Broccolis. They reminded me a little of coconuts, only they were perfectly distanced all around the wall.I squinted and took in the form of two guards by the arch of the doors. Each one was only about as third as tall as the wall. There was even a small moat going around it, and the forest near the town had been cut back to create a big clearing full of tree stumps.I reshouldered my backpack, made sure Orange was sitting pretty in my bandoleer and walked over to the gate.The guards were both grenoils like those in the Exploration Guild party, only they didn’t seem quite as intimidating. They had cheap spears and thick gambesons with a bit of scalemail that seemed ill-fitting.“Hello!” I called out to them as I got closer.A bored Grenoil Fencer, (Level ?).A bored Grenoil Hunter, (Level ?).“Hail, traveller,” the hunter said. He seemed to snap himself awake as I came closer. “What business do you have in Rockstack? Ah, I mean, Royal Outpost Seven?I stopped when I was still a dozen steps away from them, just in case they got nervous. “This isn’t Rockstack?” I asked.The fencer sighed. “It is. At least, zat’s what everyone calls it. Official name is Royal Outpost Seven. Not zat you look like an inspector.”“Well okay then,” I said. “I’m here to find a place to rest, and maybe a way to get to Port Royal?”The hunter nodded. “Zat’s fair. Might take a while before ze next caravan passes zrough. As for ze place to rest, go ask Juliette at ze Inn. You can’t miss it.”“It’s on the main road?” I asked.They both laughed, croaky chuckles that calmed down after a moment. “Miss, zere are only seven buildings here. If you can’t afford an inn room zen it’s off to the tents with you.”“Oh,” I said. “If there are so few buildings, then what are the walls for?” I asked.“Keep zings zat want to eat you out at night. Had a high-ranking Wood Mage show up when ze outpost was still fresh. Built ze walls in a few minutes is what I heard.”The fencer shook his head. “It took hours,” he said. “Zis idiot is just trying to impress you.”“Whoa, that’s still awesome!” I said. “I have a Gardening Skill, do you think I could do that?”The hunter looked at his buddy and it was clear he was trying not to laugh. “Yeah, sure. Go on in kid.”I did as he said, running through the arch and into Rockstack. My eyes went huge as I tried to take it all in at once. There were people here, and a ring of buildings that all looked strange and unique, but what caught my eye right away was the huge structure right in the middle of the sort of square that made up the centre of the outpost.It was a stack of rocks. Sort of like the little stacks someone bored might make by balancing one rock atop another, only this stack was ten meters tall and had rocks that would more appropriately be called boulders. There were three stacks, each one arching up at the top and meeting in the middle at a shiny black stone covered in little golden flecks.Fool’s gold, if I had to guess, but pretty all the same.I tore my eyes away from the strange sorta-sculpture and took in the rest. The guards were right; there were only seven proper buildings in the outpost. There was a huge inn to one side, then three little shops with second floors that probably had apartments. Then a big blacksmith’s shop. There was a huge home that looked like it belonged to someone important, and lastly two large buildings that were both square and boring-looking, as if someone had built a fantasy office building out in the middle of nowhere.There were a few people around, all grenoil and all minding their own business, so I decided to do the same.“Where do I start...?” I wondered aloud.The obvious answer was, of course, the Inn. That’s where all the best adventures began, after all. The Inn was a long building with a huge front. Three stories tall and completely out of place in the middle of nowhere like this. It was a bit strange to see such a large building so far from a proper village, but maybe there were enough travellers to make it viable.There was a sign on the front with a frog jumping into a mug and the words Hop on Inn after it.Grinning, I held on to my backpack by the straps and ran over to the building, every part of me ready for my first chance to see the inside of a working inn.The doors were, disappointingly, normal, but the moment I stepped through the threshold I was inundated with the sound of glasses clinking, people talking in low murmurs, the strumming of a lute and the mixed smells of sweaty people and fresh food.I had found a small paradise.
Chapter Twenty-Five — The Hop On Inn
I knew that staring was rude, but I couldn’t help myself. There were just so many people, and no two were the same. I didn’t mean that the people within were all dressed in strange ways, though there was certainly some of that, I meant that at a glance I counted five different species of people all sitting at different tables and doing... whatever it was adventurers did in an inn.There was a table with three small people that had translucent wings, all sitting on stools which were taller to accommodate their height. They wore tight-fitting uniforms in dark blues that looked like dress uniforms for officers back home, with medals and tassels on their shoulders and cute little caps.A bigger table off to one side had a mixed group. Grenoils and a human and a large person with a hunched back and legs that bent the wrong way. They had long, long arms tucked against their side, and their entire body was covered in beige wraps of cloth that did nothing to hide their strange proportions. They even had goggles on.Someone squawked. “Look at the newbie,” and I realised they were talking about me.It had come from a table with four bird people at it. Their arms were actual wings that ended in taloned hands and their uncovered legs were covered in fine feathers.“Sorry,” I said with a sheepish smile before I skipped over to the counter.Behind the bar was a large grenoil who stood like a queen surveilling her people, hands carefully cleaning out a mug with a corner of her apron until she caught sight of me and looked me up and down. “You look lost, girlie,” she said.“Ah, I was, I think, until now.” I gestured to one of the stools near her. “Can I sit here?”She croaked. “Go ahead.”I smiled at her and plopped myself down. “Um, I’m looking for a miss Julliette. Do you know her?”“It’s Misses, and I know her better zan anyone. Who’s asking?” She filled up a mug with something from a tap and sent it sliding across the counter just as a barmaid passed to pick it up.“Eh, I am? I met a team from the Exploration Guild in the woods. Emeric said that I should ask you about a place to stay, and maybe work.” I smiled hopefully.She eyed me up and down. “I’m not a charity, no matter what zat idiot Emeric thinks.”I shook my head. “No, no, that’s okay. If you don’t have work then I’ll find something. Um, do you sell food?”“Oh course we sell food!” she roared. “Nine cop for ze best meal you’ve ever eaten.”“Are there bugs in it?” I asked as I started reaching into my bag. I had three little pouches made from some cloth I’d knotted together. One for each sort of coin I’d found. I pulled out the copper pouch and emptied it on the counter, then counted them out. “Ah, I only have eight,” I said.Julliette eyed my meager copper coin supply, then snapped a hand out and stuffed them somewhere so fast that I couldn’t see where they went. “You’re too zin,” she said before moving back. There was an opening at the back in the wall, a window into a busy kitchen where a couple of grenoil and one of those cloth-wrapped people were cooking up a storm. Juliette screamed a few numbers at them before returning to me. “You said you were looking for work?” she asked.“Um, yeah! I’m just level four though, so I can’t do too much.”Julliette shook her big head. “What is someone like you doing out here? Trying to get yourself killed?”“No, I got lost. Sorry?”“Tch. Fine. What can you do?”I beamed at her. “I can clean, and I can cook and bake a little, and I’ve got the Gardening skill.”“You have ze cooking or baking skills?” she asked.“No,” I said with a shake.“Zen you’re useless in my kitchen. Go ask Dylan if he needs the help.” At my confused look she elaborated. “He’s ze alchemist. If you can’t find him in zis pisshole zen you’re hopeless.”“That sounds great!” I said. “Um, do you have rooms here? With showers?”“We do. Two lesser sil a night.” She glared at me. “We have smaller rooms too. No showers, but zere is a communal shower for our guests. One sil a night.”“Okay, great. How much copper is a sil worth?” I was going to need to get the hang of their money system sooner or later.Juliette pressed a hand over her face. “Emeric, damn you,” she muttered. “Nancy! You’re in charge for a moment,” she called out. A barmaid on the floor made that thumbs-up gesture Valerie had made before.The large frog woman walked back to the window just as a platter appeared then she returned and placed it before me.My eyes widened at the bounty. There was a big potato with a slice cut into it to release some steam and a square of butter melting away atop it. Some stew in a stone bowl that didn’t have any bugs in it that I could tell. Some slices of sausage with a sauce over them that was still smoking and half of a round loaf of bread that looked crisp and fresh. There were even some veggies to the side.Juliette, who I decided then and there was the best frog person ever, placed a big mug of milk next to my plate.I picked up the fork next to the plate and started taking big bites of everything. “Oh, oh this is so good,” I said.“Don’t talk wiz your mouth full,” Julliette grumbled, but there was a spark of joy in her eyes. Maybe. Reading grenoil moods wasn’t my forte.“But it’s so good,” I said after swallowing. I tried a bite of everything and it was all delicious. Even the milk was fresh and yummy.“Tch,” Juliette said. She reached under the counter for something, then came up with a handful of coins. She laid them out in a row. The first was a copper coin, then a small nickel-sized silver coin, then a quarter-sized coin that was also silver. Finally she placed a gold coin like the one Leonard had given me at the end. “Cop, lesser silver, pure sil, lesser gold. Zere’re ozer coins. Gold galleons and ze like. I’m not fool enough to keep zem here. And ozer places have zeir own currencies. Your coins are worzless too far West or past ze mountains to ze east.”If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.“Okay,” I said as I chowed down. It was hard to focus with all the yummy flavours running across my tongue, but I made the effort anyway.“Ten cop to a lesser sil, ten of those to a pure sil, ten of those to a lesser gold,” she explained.“So... a thousand copper to one lesser gold?” I asked.She nodded. “Zat’s right.”“So for one lesser gold I could buy... a hundred and forty of these meals. Minus the tip.”Julliette laughed and swept the coins off the table. “You’d be a good customer if you did.”I smiled. I was truly tempted. “How much does most work pay, by the hour, I mean?”“By ze hour? I pay my barmaids two sil a day. Ze cooks four,” she said.“Oh, okay,” I said. “How much does a loaf of bread cost?”“A loaf of...” she shook her head again. “Here, four cop. In a proper city and most towns, one or two.”“Things are expensive here?” I asked before using a chunk of bread to dab at the stew.Juliette nodded. “Ay, zey are. We’re far from any town zat can supply us. Most zings we need are brought in from Port Royal and some of ze towns along ze way. No farms means no local crops.”That made sense. I supposed that the outpost had other sources of income, or at least something to attract people to it temporarily. It didn’t seem like a permanent place yet. Maybe one day it would become a proper town, with farms and livestock and normal villagers. I looked around the bar and all I saw were people that looked ready for adventure.“So, I need a place to sleep,” I said.“One sil a night,” Juliette said.“Ah, okay,” I agreed. “Do you need anyone to help you clean and stuff like that?” I asked her.She snorted. “I always do. You could stay in ze tents if you want. Zey cost two cop a night. But if you wake up naked and wizout anyzing to your name, zat’s your problem.”“Right, your inn seems much nicer,” I said. “I have some things to sell. I should go do that soon to afford a room.”Juliette grabbed a rag and started rubbing at her counter absentmindedly. “Ze first room down zat corridor,” she said with a nod to the side. “Go clean it. I’ll give you a cop if it’s to my liking.”A copper, which was a tenth of the value of a small room. “How many rooms does your inn have?” I asked.“Forty,” she said with a growing smile. “But I wouldn’t pay you more for caring for ze bigger rooms.”“Right,” I said. I looked down and was disappointed to find that all of my food was gone. I shoved the sadness aside by reminding myself that I could afford hundreds of these meals now thanks to Leonard. “Um, I’m supposed to go to Port Royal, are there ways to get there?”“Yes. You walk. You ride wiz a caravan. You hire a mage to teleport you,” Juliette said.“Teleport?” I asked with wonder.“Zat’s usually a few lesser gold for ze distance between here and Port Royal. Triple it here because no mage will want to take you.”I winced. “Okay. How about the caravan option?”“Ze last caravan arrived yesterday morning. Ze next one arrives in a week. Ze guards for it have all been hired already from ze local adventurers, so you’d need to buy passage to go wiz zem. A few sil. More for food.”A week then. A week to gather things and make some money to be able to live in a proper city. A week to explore and meet people and make friends. I grinned at Juliette. “Brilliant!”I hopped off the stool and moved over to the side towards the room she had pointed out. “I’ll get to cleaning then,” I said as I held my bag to the side. “Can I put this somewhere?”She took the bag and stuffed it behind the bar. “Cleaning zings are in the cupboard under ze stairs.”“Got it!” I said.I found the room and slid in with a broom and some rags. It was a small space, with a simple undecorated bed to one side, a chair and desk at the far end and a tiny window overlooking the back of the inn.I could see the tents she had mentioned. They weren’t actual tents, but small squat buildings with cloth walls and roofs. Some had the sides rolled up to reveal hammocks all in a row within. There was what I suspected was a latrine at the far end, a human man coming out and hopping around as he buckled his belt. Not very fancy. A room would be much nicer, even if it was simple.My plan so far was pretty simple, but I could go over it again and again as I broomed the floor and did the bed and rubbed the top of the desk free of dust. Get a room, then spend the night. In the morning try to sell all of my loot. Then maybe I could work in the inn. That did sound kind of cool.But I also wanted to see the world around the outpost and maybe find more cool stuff! The adventurers here had to be around for something. Maybe I could help?I wiped my brow and looked over my work. It was good enough.I set aside all of the cleaning stuff and went to fetch Juliette. “Problem?” she asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how to do ze bed. I swear children zese days are...” she stopped when she stood by the door. “Did... did you polish ze floor?”The floor looked clean, nice and well cared for and just a little sparkly. “I just cleaned it,” I said.“And ze bed?”The bed looked fresh and welcoming. It even smelled nice, like fresh hay. Probably because that’s what was in the mattress. “I made it right, right?” I asked. “Um, I can try harder, if you want.”Juliette eyed me. “You have the Cleaning skill zen. Good. One cop a room,” she said.I grinned. “Okay!”
