Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-One — Personality Quiz
Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-One — Personality Quiz I didn't want to run out of time, so after I felt I had a decent grasp of Jake and Kerri, I shifted my attention to the last pair of adventurers. We were halfway back across the first floor-still without meeting any of those Murlocks-when I moved up and next to the two grenoils."Hello," I said.They both eyed me, but it was the shorter of the two that spoke up first. "Hello," he said. "Is it our turn to be interviewed?""Ah... I guess? I wasn't being very subtle about it, was I?""If you were, then giving it away just now certainly didn't help," he replied.I flushed a bit, then giggled at my own mistake. "Ah, I guess so! Well, it's not so much an interview as it is a... okay, so I guess it sort of is an interview, but you don't need to be too nervous or anything. Jean-Pierre only really needs me to make sure that everyone is more or less on the same page.""That makes some sense," he replied. "I'm Guy. This is Harrison.""Greetings, Captain," Harrison said with a nod. "So, what kind of questions does this interview ask?"I blinked, then shrugged. "Nothing too complicated. I think it's mostly for me to get a feel for how well you'd fit into the Exploration Guild. The guild is very good at encouraging people to work together. I've made some of my best friends there. I don't know if someone needs to have a certain kind of... maturity in order to be part of that, but it wouldn't hurt."Guy nodded along. "That makes some sense. A lot of the guild's work will have experts in different fields forming temporary teams, won't it?""I guess so. Ah, my experience is a little different, I guess? The Beaver Cleaver, that is, my ship, is kind of an exploration vessel.""So the crew is entirely composed of members of the guild?" Harrison asked."No, just... well, if things go well, four of us. Plus we sometimes have other members onboard. Abraham Bristlecone and one of his friends were with us for part of the trip back, for example."They both seemed to nod at that, but I wasn't sure I'd convinced them of anything. Or did I have to convince them to begin with? Harrison and Guy weren't being aggressive, but it felt like I was the one on the hotseat."Anyway! I was wondering, why do the two of you want to join the guild?"Harrison and Guy glanced at each other, and after a few moments, Guy sighed. "We want to become more... independent. Our families have strong ties in Deepmarsh. Still, we don't want to leave the country. Port Royal seemed like as good a place as any to call home without being in the same city as our family, and within Port Royal, the Exploration Guild doesn't seem like a bad option. It's prestigious, and it comes with the ability to travel, which we're both interested in."Harrison hummed. "And it doesn't hurt that we'll get away from grenoil who are entrenched in the old ways."I nodded along, because that made a lot of sense."I see," I said before I pointed to the gun on his back. It was almost as long as my arm, with a funnel-shaped end on the barrel, and a wooden stock with careful engravings. "Is that a blunderbuss?""It is," Harrison said. "I'm surprised you recognize it. Most people wouldn't know the difference. I don't think most people are even familiar with what a gun is, much less what they look like.""We have them back where I'm from," I said.He raised an eyebrow, and the expression looked kind of odd on his round face. "Really? I didn't know that buns were that advanced.""Well, less buns more... anyway, I haven't seen anyone using guns, or even canons. Are they uncommon?""Canons aren't that useful unless you have a fortified location for them. They're too heavy to carry around with anything less than a train of horses," Harrison said. "As for guns, well, they're difficult to make, the powder is expensive, and it's a bit of a mess to use them. Most don't really have the right materials or craftsmen to make them.""Are they better than bows?" I asked.Harrison's chest puffed out. "Bows? Please. Arrows don't fly nearly as far. They don't hit as hard either. No, guns are much, much better."I was pretty sure that that's how things had worked out on Earth, but I didn't know if they would match up favourably against magic. Or even a bow bolstered by relevant skills. Calamity could hit a fly from a hundred metres away. And with a moment, he could make his arrows catch fire, or explode on impact.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.I wondered how he'd feel about guns."That's neat," I said. "Does it get hot when you fire it?"Harrison nodded. "Hot enough to burn if you're not careful. I don't know about it being hot enough to light a fire, however. It doesn't reach those kinds of degrees."Those kinds of degrees... did he mean in Celsius or Fahrenheit? Well, it didn't matter. "What about you, Guy, what's your class? If you don't mind sharing, that is.""Oh, I don't mind. It's not a very exciting class. I'm an Alchemist. I have some skill with chemistry.""An Alchemist! That's neat," I said. "That must be super useful as an explorer too. You can make all kinds of cool potions and stuff."He shrugged. "Potions are expensive. And while they're handy, they do have some deficiencies. There are skills and spells for that kind of thing. But, where you'd need specialised healers and buff-givers, a single well-stocked alchemist can keep a team going on their own." He reached to his belt, which I noticed had several big pouches running all around it. Opening a flap, he revealed a set of small finger-width potion bottles in little straps."Neat!" I said. "And you can make the potions yourself, right?""Right. I'm not great at it, but it's a nice sideline to have. And some things are easier to make yourself. Like... ah, a healing potion is pretty easy, and so are a few poisons.""Oh, so you can make poisons!" I said. That seemed very handy for someone working through dungeons. It was probably not as directly strong as a fighter or mage kind of class, and using poisons didn't seem... very friendly."Not as much as I'd like," he said."Oh," I replied. "I think it's neat. What kind of things do you like to work on?"Guy smiled a little, and he started expounding on a few of the potions he was trying to make. He'd been hoping to get to some of the lower floors of this dungeon-there were rarer ingredients down there which he wanted to experiment on.I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying, but he was very enthusiastic about his hobby.By the time we got to the exit, Guy had calmed down and was back to a more neutral expression, and Harrison looked like he was a little less on edge."I need to run ahead," I said. "Thanks for the chat!"I waved goodbye to the two, then hopped past my friends, stopping for only a moment to give Awen a quick surprise hug and then a less-surprising hug to Calamity too before I reached Jean-Pierre.The elderly grenoil glanced at me. "I assume ze lot have passed?" he asked."Yes. they're all competent, and they get along well. Some of them seem a lot newer. Jake and Kerri have some experience, but not much formal training I think. Hannah and Davis... could use more experience and training. I don't think either would have much trouble adjusting to the guild," I said. "They're a little reserved, but once you get them talking they're not so bad!""Hmm. Keep in mind zat you have social skills. It'll be harder for others to get people to open up. But still, most team leads have a few leadership skills too."I blinked. Wait, did that make social skills kind of bad? Or at least manipulative?I was thinking about that when the older grenoil stopped in front of the exit. "We'll be stopping here," he said. "It's a little early, but zis is the only place we can camp.""Camp?" I asked."Mmm. Yes. Get some lunch into these people before the walk back to Rockstack.""But Booksie... aren't things a little too urgent for lunch breaks?" I asked.Jean-Pierre glanced my way, and his gaze was a little sad. "Maybe. But zese people are not soldiers. Zey're explorers. It's important zat we respect zat.""Oh," I said. That made some sense. At the same time... "I think I'll be going ahead, then," I said. "I can't sit around and wait while Booksie might be in trouble." My tummy growled, and Jean-Pierre gave me a look. "Even if I'm hungry.""You're not going alone, are you?" Awen asked as she came up behind us. Calamity nodded next to her.Jean-Pierre hummed, then shrugged. "I won't stop you, but make sure you know what you're doing. We'll be leaving once ze sun reaches midday.""I think I'll head out as soon as I can, then," I said. "Thank you for your help."
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Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Two — If You See Something, Say Something
Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Two — If You See Something, Say Something "Awa, it's nice just being us again," Awen said.I grinned as I looked to the side. Awen hadn't looked too bad when she was with all of the other recruits and Sir Tissue, but now that we were off on our own it looked like she'd cast off a bit of tension, her shoulders had relaxed and she looked much happier.So, to add to the happiness, I leaned to the side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a side-hug. "Did you have some fun, at least?""It wasn't bad," Awen said. "Some of them were a little weird about working with a human, but Mister Jean-Pierre put an end to that. And I think we did pretty well in the dungeon?""That team with the two that look like they just came off the mean streets," Calamity said, "they didn't look like they knew what they were doing.""Oh, were they that bad?" I asked. He was definitely talking about Hannah and Davis. The two had been nice, but I think Calamity was probably right about them not quite having all that much experience."I've seen a lot of new people showing up to hunts before," Calamity said. "Happened all the time. People would show up with ideas of how things were done, but no experience. Sometimes you could set them straight before they'd hurt themselves, sometimes you'd need to give them the boot before they ruined a hunt. But you just have to live with it. Most people need to start somewhere.""They seemed nice," I said. "I think Hannah, especially, really wants to be part of the guild. That kind of enthusiasm should help a lot, I think."Calamity nodded. "Yup. You'd get wanna-be hunters like that too. It's great, because they want to be part of the group so much that they don't complain when you give them scop work.""Hey," I said. "That's mean.""Someone has to clean the dishes and dig the latrines," Calamity said with a shrug.Awen laughed. "I think it's okay. It'll make them useful to the guild, and at the same time they'll have time to learn how to be good explorers."I hummed, but didn't say anything against that. I remembered the first group of explorers I'd run into a long, long time ago. They'd had a younger grenoil with them who was always doing the boring work too.We were just passing the old delver camp when Awen spoke up. "Um, so, Broccoli, why did you come and get us?""Oh!" I gasped. "Oh gosh, I completely forgot to tell you. Right! I came to get Jean-Pierre, uh, Sir Tissue. He's one of the guild's best trackers, and we need him. Booksie was... she was kidnapped.""Hoh boy," Calamity muttered.Awen just gasped, hands clamping over her mouth. "When? Why?""This morning, we think. Or maybe last night? I don't know, exactly. Amaryllis is trying to find out, and Caprica is working with the sylph embassy too. I rushed over to get Jean-Pierre, and the two of you too.""Can we help?" Awen asked. "Being kidnapped is... no good, most of the time.""Yeah," I said. "Just being there should help.""Hey now, I'm not a terrible tracker myself, you know," Calamity griped. "And I have a good nose. Maybe I can pick something up from Booksie's place. But... we sure she was kidnapped?""What do you mean?" I asked."Well, she's got a mighty stressful time coming up. Some people respond to stress by toughening up, some just push through, others fold, and then some run away from home, change their identity, and become incredibly handsome hunters."I narrowed my eyes, inspecting Calamity. That last one was a bit suspiciously specific."Uh-huh. I don't feel like Booksie would be the sort to run away from her marriage. She doesn't strike me as that kind of bun. If anything, she might be the sort to put her foot down." I shook my head. "Maybe you're right, but I don't think so.""It was just an idea," Calamity said. "Best to assume the worst and work to find her, then we can figure things out from there.""Mhm!" I agreed.We left the marshes behind, starting down the road at a brisk clip. I took some time to splash some Cleaning magic onto myself and my friends. Calamity especially-mud was very good at getting stuck to fur. By the time I was done, his fur was standing on end and he looked particularly poofy.I tried not to giggle, failed, then endured Calamity's pouting until we were almost back to Rockstack.We made good time on the way back. Not sprinting, exactly, but not wasting any time either. All three of us kept a quick pace, which meant less chatting than I was used to, but still... I couldn't help but feel guilty for all the time I'd taken getting to Jean-Pierre in the first place. Could I have gotten there faster? Was Booksie hurting because I was being slow?Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author."Are you okay?" Awen asked.I nodded. "I'm fine," I said. "Let's just get back to Port Royal.""We're teleporting back, right?" Calamity asked. "Because I'm not sure if my breakfast agreed with that, but I'm less sure about trying it on an empty stomach."'Yeah. The guild's paying for it, and it's way, way faster than going back to Port Royal ourselves. That's a trip that takes a full day by carriage."Calamity scoffed. "We could do it in a morning. We move a lot faster than a carriage."I blinked, but looking back... yeah, we probably were faster than a carriage, especially on these roads, which were muddy and covered in potholes. I wasn't thinking about it, but our 'fast walking' speed was probably as quick as my running speed before arriving on Dirt.I supposed that was the benefit of having even slightly higher stats. And a life that encouraged lots of moving all day long.Rockstack appeared ahead, sitting atop a large bump in the landscape that probably kept the outpost nice and dry from all the swampiness around it.I led my friends up to the front gate, ready to shoot past the guards, when I decided not to. Yes, I was in a bit of a hurry, but that didn't mean that I could just stop being polite. There were limits to such things. "Hello," I said as we came up to the gate."Oh, you're back," one of the grenoil said. The guards hadn't changed yet. Or maybe Rockstack only had a few to begin with. "Hey, you mentioned something about seeing a bun earlier, didn't you?"My heart did a little leap. "Yes?" I asked."Well, we didn't see one," he continued. "But there's this guy that comes here every so often.""Two or three times a week," the other guard said."Always thought he was a little strange. Comes over and buys enough food and supplies to keep a dozen fed. Anyway, this morning, some time after we saw you, he came into town and we chatted him up. He asked if we knew what sorts of food buns eat.""We don't," said the other."Yeah. But I thought I'd ask you," the first continued, looking expectantly at me.I looked between them. "So... a mysterious... this guy's a grenoil? Okay, so a mysterious grenoil came up this morning, and he usually buys lots of supplies and takes them out of the outpost, and this morning he wanted to know about bun foods?""He came maybe an hour after you left," the guard said. "He's still around, I think. We'd notice him leaving. I thought you might know what buns eat, since, uh, you know.""Yeah," I said. "I'll go talk to him.""You think that was just a coincidence?" Calamity asked once we were through."It could be," Awen said. "There's more than one bun around.""Not that many," I said. "I think Booksie's one of the only buns in Port Royal. They're... we're, rare. And someone asking what to feed a bun today, of all days? Uh, maybe it's worth a little detour?"There were only so many stores in a place like Rockstack, and only so many strange and mysterious grenoil going around buying heaps of supplies. So it wasn't all that surprising when we found our suspect at the general store, juggling a heavy backpack filled to the brim with boxes and jars and a couple of sacks.Calamity smiled a very cat-like smile as he wrapped an arm around the grenoil's shoulder. "Hey there, buddy!" he said.The grenoil jolted, nearly losing his grip on his burdens. "Who are you?" he snapped. "Unhand me!""Don't worry, friend, I just have a couple of very quick questions for you," Calamity said.I glanced at the owner of the shop, who was eyeing the whole scene warrily, then smiled as big and innocent as I could manage. "Sorry about stopping you, mister. But we heard you asking about buns?" I wiggled my ears in emphasis. "We kinda lost our bun friend, and we were wondering if maybe you saw her?"The grenoil stiffened, then shook his head. "No, I didn't see any buns.""You were asking about their eating habits," the shopkeeper said."I was just curious," he replied."Our friend was kidnapped this morning," I said. "We're really worried. Maybe just answer a few questions? Please?""We promise it won't hurt," Calamity added helpfully.
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