The Ranger: Ch. 18

"I'm here to see the baron about that Wyvern that flew by, I'll add whatever your fee is to his total bill, what gate is this to let him know?"

"10% of what you have." The one on the left says without looking up, the one on the right looks at me Taps his mates shoulder and shakes his head at the guy when he looks up at him.

"What!? Rules are rules!" He snaps and the other guy shakes his head again.

"About 10paces if you don't wish to be involved," I tell the guard and he backs away. "There is zero chance I'm giving you 50gold to get into this shithole."

"Threatening a guard will put you in chains." The first guard steps back from a makeshift table laid across some crates.

"I wish you the best of luck, but I doubt this is going to end with me in chains," I reply back ready to put him down, the more he looks around the less I like him.

"Allister, are you daft? Are you trying to get the entire guild shut down for one person?" The voice is scratchy, I turn and see a Gnome walking up behind us.

"They said." Allister starts.

"Look around you idiot, he looks like he could handle a dozen of you and you chose him to set an example? Then he reports it to the Baron, if he doesn't hang you, Felton will."

"Whose Felton?" I ask the little gnome with his sheep herders crook.

"Guild leader." He answers, "Follow me." The guard moves when he does, Boulders crook flashes out, hooks the back of his knee, and pulls the tall guard down face to face with the Gnome, "pick a new career path Allister." The gnome flicks him on the forehead and keeps walking into the city, got some claps until Allister starts yelling at them while walking away.

"What's going to happen?" Yesime asks, the crowd is growing behind us.

"They extort extra money from those that can't fight back, he should have paid more attention," the gnome says.

"What, so those that can't pay, is who they target? That doesn't sound profitable." Yesime says and the Gnome chuckles.

"Even a single coin is free money to them". They'll get pulled for a new crew after calling attention." He stops and turns around towards us.

"I am Boulder Dash, mind if I tag along as a guide?"

"Kae and Yesime, could you take us to the person who would know the most about the Wyvern's treasure?"

"This is going to be interesting, I'd guess we should go see the quartermaster, Nottingham would be the first stop." This Boulder Dash is an odd gnome, I hadn't seen many, but he had a shaved head with a beard.

'He's a Monk.' Grayson says.

"You're a Monk?" I repeat out loud.

"Yes, Open Hand. You're a?" He asks back.

"Druids," I was going to say Ranger, it's not been that long. The widlshape is the biggest change, hmm quite a bit of overlap in spells.

'You went from unbeliever to meeting her," Cinthia adds.

'Yeah, that too.' I reply at the obvious.

"Hmmm, thought Druids and Wyverns would be at opposite ends?" Boulder says leading us up a cobblestone lane through a bunch of open sitting-yard houses, nice space for city homes. I'm guessing a Quartermaster would be higher up than even this.

"Okay, if you don't know something don't BS her, she got a sixth sense on that and calls people out." Boulder knocks on a door with his crook.

She walks around the side of her house and looks at us, "Why?"

"They are with the Wyvern," Boulder answers. She's also a gnome in what looks to be gardening clothes.

"Your name?"

"Kaethorn," I answer, "with Yesime, the wyvern's name is Tia."

"Why are you here?" She is watching my every movement.

"There are some relics Tia, wants returned."

"What if we don't have them?"

"Where were they sent?"

"All over, there were hundreds."

"There were maybe 5 relics that would have stood out," Yesime says after Sandy sends it from Tia. The bond does get everyone's input this way.

"Wait here," she goes inside, door open, "can you describe them?"

"Yes! Yesime answers.

"Good, I should have a record based on their description and value. If they really stand out it shouldn't be that difficult, depending." Nottingham is asking Yesime questions.

'She'd like the names of those that stole it.' Sandy sends.

'Circle back for that, we're making good progress, if anyone helping becomes a suspect this all stops. Get it back, then revenge later.' No answer to my recommendation.

"So, I'll take a look at this and let you know, where are you staying?" She looks at Boulder.

"Lions Mane Inn," he answers and looks at me. "It's nice but not too expensive."

"Good, good, I'll need to review with the Baron and his council, we will let you know." Nottingham takes the list from Yesime. "What if we don't know."

"With the current problems, I think Tia could make it so only the Barons most loyal family members bother staying here. I could use a Quartermaster if things don't work out?

"Where are you from?" She asks as we turn to leave.

"Riverside," I answer.

"Never heard of it."

"Just west of Myread?"

"You should lead with that, most everyone knows of that; place."

"Yeah, they leave us alone, Fiona seems nice enough."

"She knows you are so casual with her name?" The Quartermaster asks.

"She warned me that it could make friends or get me killed."

"Seriously, you talk to council chief Fiona."

"We like the same woman," I answer and everyone but Yesime is surprised.

"Evaine?" Yesime asks and I nod, "Figures."

"Probably shouldn't share that with anyone you care about, if that gossip gets out only 8 people know, and only 2 outsiders."

"What! Why did you tell me this?" Nottingham looked quite upset.

"I was told not to lie to you." I point at Boulder.

"Fucking Wyvern, You!, and now this, going to need a bigger garden to de-stress." Nottingham mumbles to herself and slams the door after going inside.

"That went well," Boulder laughs, "to the Lion's Mane or somewhere else?"

"We're going to meet the rest of the team back outside the city gate."

"Mind if?" Boulder starts walking in the direction of the gate.

"Wyvern is going to be there." I ask giving him an out.

"I have no possessions other than my walking stick, she need not fear me."

"Ha, okay then, so what is it you do?" I answer, monks are normally helpful if aligned.

'He knows shady people by name that is a bit too familiar.' Grayson says.

'Never bad to have the thieves guild on your side though.' Cinthia adds. "They are proficient in the areas we need most of our info from, stolen goods, probably resold several times."

"You okay?" Boulder asks looking at me as we walk, "thought you left us there for a minute."

"Not sure sometimes, I have a bond with about 40 people, no privacy, and sometimes I wonder if any of this is real." The look on his face is priceless, I can see he's trying not to look at me as if I'm insane.

"I'll explain it, so it seems slightly less crazy if you explain your interactions with the thieves' guild, we might need them with Tia's missing treasures."

"At eighty three I'm still young, but I grew up on the streets of Bilvikvik, as most monks I was deposited at their door as a child, and spent as much time in the sewers as in the temple. Was hanging out in the Thieves guild until just recently when my Ki appeared."

"What's that?" Yesime asks.

"Somewhat like magic, more willpower focused than mana focused. And all it took was for me to break up what turned out to be the Baron's son from beating up a woman in the street, getting my ass handed to me until I almost died, and wah-lah, Ki."

"Not too shabby when a bad day has such a nice hidden benefit," I answer and he nods.

"Yeah, I'd not be committed enough previously, going through the motions and such, so I get three years to wander the land, I've made it here so far and have another two years to go. While you are down here, I know the land and a good amount of people."

I look over where Moira lives, the plots are small, each one about a hundred paces by 100 paces and broke into four plots. Hundreds of them spread about with houses setup together in the corner of four lots.

I don't know the name of the kid that waves, I wave back and keep walking, I know exactly where Sandy is as if I was looking at the maps, oh no, the maps that I left back home, like an idiot, ohh, I'd laid them out on the bed for a last look and didn't pack them. I can't believe I left them behind, 'I can't believe you let me leave them behind.'

'Hey, we're here for life and death, not to stop your dumbass moments.' Grayson chuckles, 'we'd never have time for anything else.'

'Do you remember what they looked like, can you share that?' I ask and feel their answer beforehand,

'I know your not my memory, but did you see them?

'I mean, I saw a couple, but I remember them the same way you do, the shapes and land types, but the names were weird, no chance I'd remember any of them.' Gray confirms the same thing I thought about it.

"We'll need to buy maps," I say figuring we might as well.

"We can do that from Nottingham, she'll have the newest," he laughs, "she isn't normally that talkative."

"That, was talkative!?" She didn't seem to say more than a few words at most.

"Yeah, she'll stare at someone until they crack and fill the silence, even if you were sitting at a different table in the cafe." He laughs again. "She thinks I'm with the guild still, she's not the most trusting gnome you'll meet."

"She'll come through, fire from a wyvern during a water shortage wouldn't take very long to destroy everything." Boulder says and stops in his tracks when we see Tia's tail between two of the trees we're walking towards, I let Sandy know we're walking around to her right a little and coming in from the side.

We repeat everything that happened and what Boulder thinks Nottingham will do, she was happier than I've seen her.

"We'll at least know where they were shipped originally, we might need, to move a few times after that."

Tia looks at me for a moment and her lip curls, "I know, a good start."

"How far away are you staying?" I ask.

"Here, I'm going to wait here." She says, not a care that she is just sitting in the first set of trees north of the city.

"Bold," I say and smile and she does also.

"I'm built bold, it's difficult to suppress it sometimes." Tia's hip turns towards me and I know the tail is coming.

"Oh, this again?" I groan out as I am wrapped up and lifted up into the air to meet her gaze.

"You have been a human of your word, I am grateful for your help." She says rather formally.

"Glad to be of service." I would have bowed but can't, and she could feel the effort. "I have the other teams lined up if this goes long, but it has already been better than expected."

Thank you for making it this far, I know we got that dragon due to the other side cheating, but I'm sure they'll figure out a way to match us. How do you match an immortal dragon though?

Thoughts that would work in a DnD world?