Paymaster Derrick is going through papers when I make it to him. He doesn't fight much anymore, mostly handles paperwork and the like. He's out of shape now, I remember when he was part of the vanguard. I hand him the pay notice, and he goes over it. He looks a little surprised and, after mumbling something about 'getting their money's worth,' counts out a stack of coins and graded gems for me to take.
“Th' Captain's puttin' a lot of faith in you givin' you this much pay to do whatever it is you're gettin' sent off t'do.”
He is, and I don't even know what to do. Perhaps I shouldn't have gone to Derrick first, he spreads news like wildfire. If anyone goes to get paid while I'm gathering my unit gear to turn in to the quartermaster, then the whole company will know I'm leaving for a while for some unknown reason.
I head back down to the wagons and take my armor bundle. I go to report to Quartermaster Stoneheaver, one of the few nonhuman members of the company. The dwarf, bending over as he takes inventory of consumable goods, looks even shorter than usual. His height belies an affinity for disemboweling his foes.
“Ah, finally here to turn in that armor. Good luck on your mission.” News spreads really fast when the paymaster is involved. I wonder if rumors about what this 'mission' is have started yet.
“Yeah, I got a bonus to purchase some personal armor with, though. Is there anywhere in town that sells decent enough stuff?” The quartermaster would know.
He rattles off a few names of smith's and tanners local to the city we've stopped in and gives their locations. I thank him. As I leave I get stopped by two of the veterans in the company, Jeremy and Norrin.
“Leo, we heard you were going off on some sort of solo mission. I figure it'd be best to help you get it done as fast as possible so you can come back quick. Here.” Jeremy hands me a pair of boots, “Those will help you walk and run faster. I'd use them on scouting duty sometimes, but I figure you're one of the best we have around here, so don't take too long.”
Norrin pulls a belt out of his magical bag. I should probably get one of those for myself, a backpack can only hold so much, too bad they're so expensive.
“I have this for you. Traveling solo is pretty dangerous, even with how skilled you are. This belt will wake you up if you're sleeping and someone grips a weapon nearby, or a predator notices you. I hope it helps you as much as you've saved me on the field.”
Norrin is skilled in his own right, but he always had a knack for getting in over his head. If he was ready to take on two guys, he'd round a corner and run into five. More often than not, I was there to make up the difference. I hope I've still been saving people when the blackouts started...
The quartermaster chimes in, “So wait, you two are giving him running boots, and a belt of alarm? The man who's killing capacity was only limited by who he knows about and how fast he can move around in all that armor? There's not going to be a bandit left alive between here and his destination!”
“You say that like it's a bad thing!” I agree with Norrin on this point. Any bandits, especially those dumb enough to mess with an armed individual, deserve to be run off or killed.
“Thanks, but you don't...”
“Nope, but we are anyway, take them. Be sure to come back before we finally catch up to your kill count, we'll never let you live it down otherwise.”
Norrin has been trying to catch up to me there for a while, he's been steadily losing ground the whole time. Personally, I don't think kill count is the right way of going about it, killing one real enemy is far and above slaughtering a hundred that don't have a clue.
“Just come back in one piece, okay?”
“Spoken like a true scout Jeremy.”
They begin to argue about the importance of scouting, a good opportunity to leave without catching their attention. Given his attitude on the field I'm unsurprised that Norrin doesn't regard scouts too highly. I manage to escape without running into any of the other men.
I walk the streets of this city thinking that I should get a map so I know where I am, too. I remember the directions, though, and follow them towards the nearest of three armorers. As I tread the deserted streets, it's still very early in the morning, I hear a yell of pain. I head deeper into the city towards it, curious, I guess. How do people live around here, I fought walking corpses that have smelled better than all this garbage. I hear a shout from a side street, I turn to look. A child? No a halfling getting mugged by a pair of men with knives.
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