Something-or-Anothers: Tales of the Confused Adventure's Shenanigans

"28!!" Sage gasped, looking rather shocked at Sanz. How did he gain so many levels faster then her?! She had so many people and friends teach her things. She gained a lot of mundane exp. Was Sanz doing more combative things? Sage almost felt out of touch with Sanz. Was she not pulling her weight? Well she had been trying to pull her weight.

"Wow, uh. I'm level 26..." Two whole levels behind. Sage let out a defeated sigh, "I guess we should take on a question in the early 20s level requirement. Nothing above level 25. preferably level 22 or 23." Sage mentioned, hoping Sanz didn't reprehend her for being behind in leveling.

Sage straightened up and looked over the questing bored, her hand on her chin as she did so. "Hm. Not a lot of a selection... All look like combat like quests rather then high level delivery. We might be just getting out of the range of quests that are... safe."
 
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So Sage was a little behind--Sanz's problem was he still didn't really have a full grasp of what a difference in level translated to. In some environments, a difference of one or two levels was a massive gap in power, while others even a 10 level difference was only a minor difference. Of course, that also widely depended on what skills the two of them had focused on. He and Sage hadn't really collaborated recently on what they were focusing their skills on. They had agreed that Sanz would be fulfilling more of a tank role, while Sage focused on damage, but beyond that nothing. He made a mental note to bring it up this evening.

"Any delivery quest that isn't extremely low level will have some kind of complication anyway. If we're going to be fighting, I'd rather know about it up-front."
Sanz carefully looked through the various documents on the board. Protect a small village from goblin attacks, deliver a parcel through the dark forest, escort a minor noble family on a road plagued by goblin attacks, gather rare monster materials for a blacksmith, destroy a fort infested by goblins...
"There are a lot of quests involving goblins here... Maybe that's a good place for us to start. Most of the quests range from a recommended level of 18 to 23 depending."
 
"Goblins.." Sage said very slowly, "I don't like that its plural.. I heard those things can breed like rabbits." Sage said, rubbing her chin slowly as she looked at the quests. Dispute her negative tone, Sanz probably knew her enough that she was actually interested in it. The infested fort sounds fun, but also like a lot of ground. I don't know how much just the two of us do and if that is a job to do in a half a day. Let along a full day. Thoughts?" Sage asked and she pulled the request off the bored.
 
"Somehow I doubt that we'll ever find a single goblin by itself. At least if conventional wisdom holds."

Conventional wisdom. About creatures that had been fictional less than a month ago in some fantasy land. Why the fuck was this normal now? Sanz shook his head and thought over the quest. They could try to bring some others in--but Sanz actually wanted the opportunity to see how far the two of them had come by themselves. Plus, it would give them the chance to talk about things moving forward. If they took something maybe... level 20? They would probably be fine.

"Depends on how large a fort is here. How many goblins does it house? A dozen, a few dozen? A hundred? more? What's the quest level given?"
Sanz took a glance at Sage while the young man pored over the quests.
"If nothing else, I'm much more confident in my survivability than before."
 
"I mean, I think we could do it!" Sage mentioned to Sanz, but judging by the unamused look that he currently had, she didn't think he was feeling this one. "Fine, Fine!" Sage said turning to look back at the bored. She hummed and hawed for a bit before reaching for another one, "Ooh look at this one. Escort mission. Our family is too far from the city. We plan to relocate in the city, but we need an escort on the dangerous roads. Please help. See that sounds easy!" Sage cheered, "And it pays a decent bit of silver." Sage turned the paper around so Sanz could take a moment and read it for himself.
 
Sanz raised an eyebrow at the mention.
"Let me see that..."

---------------------------------------------------
Seeking Asylum
Poster: Oswald Hunter

Over the last month, our farm has come under attack by goblins again and again. Adventurers have already come to clear them out multiple times, but they always come back. My family is seeking to move into the town of Thymescira, but are almost certain that goblins will attack us on the road. Looking for brave adventurers willing to ensure the safety of my family and kill any goblins. We're already packed, I reckon it will take us about two whole days to make it back.

Required level: 19
Pay: 11 silver, 6 copper, one fresh cheese wheel
Requirements: All members of the hunter family and their chosen belongings make it safely to Thymescira.
-----------------------------------------------------

That... seemed doable. More to the point... that family...
"I think we can do this. We're both at least 5 levels above recommended, so we probably will be fine. The reward isn't bad either. That covers us for the entire week if need be."
 
Sage nodded her head in agreeance, "Then lets take this one." Sage turned the paper around a second time to reread it and doublely make sure there was not strange hidden clauses. When she was done, she hummed before walking over to the counter. She smiled at the counter lady, "Sanzy and I would love to take this quest please."

"Alright, just give me a minute. Hello Sanz." She greeted as well when Sanz had walked up. They each got quests daily, so they were regular enough for people to start knowing them by names. "I'll send a messenger out a head of time and let them know someone has accepted their quest. You should travel to the meeting point in the next day or so to meet up with your clients."

"We'll do that. Thanks." Sage said politely, giving her a small wink as she did.
 
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Sanz simply nodded at the Guildmarm when she accepted their quest. He'd spoken with her many times over his time here, but not as much as some of his--less savory acquaintances.
"I see no reason to wait."
Sanz turned to look at Sage
"Is there anything you need to get done before heading out?"
Sanz didn't want to head out unprepared... but he also didn't feel like this was something that should wait. And he didn't have much to prepare in the first place. His only armor was already equipped. he just needed to grab his bag from their room before leaving.
 
"I mean, this might be more then just an evening kind of quest." Sage muttered to herself and a bit to Sanz, "So maybe we should bring some bed rolls and stuff?" Sage asked, "And a few rations for ourselves?" Sage hummed again as she thought about thing they may or may not need in the long journey. This wasn't like the other fights, this could be a long dragged out fight. There could be multiple fights. There could also be no fights at all. "I don't know how long a full family with stuff will take to go from one city to the other." Sage said.
 
Sanz took in a deep breath and forced himself to think through this. Sage was right, they would at the very least need something to sleep on for the journey. And their travel time back was definitely uncertain.
"It would depend on how they plan to travel and how much they intend to bring with them. Neither of which are mentioned in the quest. I can supplement with wild produce--but my wilderness skill isn't that high."
The problem here was the fact that they may not have a safe place to rest for multiple days, so sleep was also going to be a luxury. So maybe something like caffeine would be helpful?
"Should we stop by that store with the twins and see if they have anything?"
 
"Alright. I mean, we never slept out before so I never bought a bed roll for any of my quests." Sage said, "So I guess I might need to stop by a shop. I have all our cooking equipment, so we might be able to get by with not using rations." Sage gave a mental cheer to her cooking ability, though they would still need meat to cook. "Other then that, I guess I'd just need to stock up on the rations for maybe... four days too much or little, do you think?"
 
Sanz nodded in response.
"I think four days would probably be reasonable. Between the two of us we can stretch those if need be. It think it's also safe to say the family will have their own supplies. I could spend some time gathering before we head out."
Sanz turned to look at the position of the sun. With his cell phone dead, keeping track of time had become significantly more difficult.
"Do you have the weaponry and armor you'll need? I'm all good--"
The man raised his arms to show the bracers.
 
"Nope, its all right here." Sage said, patting her chest happily where she had on much better leather armor. Instead of the strange patch work leather, it seemed like a full set of sturdy leather armor. Though, no mettle bits were around it. She was still using her shoulder strapped leather school bag from their world. "I just need to grab the bed roll and we can get rations on our way out... do we want to divide and concour?" Sage asked, "I can go buy 8 rations and you can grab both bed rolls and we can meet at the east entrance?" Sage suggested idally,
 
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Sanz was happy to see the improvement in Sage's armor. Especially after their encounter with the king slime, the young man's defenses had been in a rather sorry state. It seemed that both of them were now improving their equipment along with their skills--which was likely going to be just as important in their ability to take on higher level quests.
"Sure. I'll meet you by the east gate in an hour."
Sanz nodded at the man before walking back to their rented room. It gave him some time to think while he grabbed their bedrolls and stuffed them in his bag. Despite almost two weeks in this world, Sanz still didn't know that much about his wayward partner, beyond the obvious of course. Not that Sanz was that open with his past or emotions either, so he could hardly expect Sage to do the same. How much longer would they be here? Depending on the answer, he may have no choice but to open up... No. He refused to believe that. Sure, it was taking longer than he had hoped, but the two of them would be out of here within a reasonable period of time. Sanz kept that thought in his head as he walked towards the eastern gate
 
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Sage wasn't going to say an hour. Maybe 20-30 minutes, but Sanz said a whole hour. So, Sage resigned to take her time to the town store. She did her usual walk, saying hello to many of the towns people and greeting anyone who would be willing to greet her back. When she got to the store, she quickly bought 8 rations, 4 for each of them. She even saw a honey candy and bought that, as well as a few medical supplies to put away in her bag. She had a few things, but on a long winded journey, she didn't know what they would really run into. She half wanted to bring Rhea along, mostly for the assurance of her healing skills.


Even taking her time, Sage still ended up at the east gate fairly early, way before the hour was even up. So, she leaned against the arch of the gate and waited for Sanz. Part way through, she had the great idea of trying her stealthing, so she found a shaddy spot and tried her best to stealth and wait.
 
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Sanz arrived at the gate, expecting to see Sage already there. He was not. Sanz looked up at the sun, trying to gauge the position. Had he moved to quickly? Keeping track of time had become significantly more difficult since his phone lost power. Maybe he was early? He didn't think so. The man looked back and forth before leaning against a nearby wall. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him... but he couldn't spot anyone.

The man made a mental note to look for any kind of skills that might spot hidden enemies... but perhaps he was just being paranoid. He took to scanning the area while awaiting Sage's arrival.
 
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Sage went out of her way to creep out of the shadows when Sanz turned to scan the area behind him. She was expecting Sanz to try and back hand or punch her when she scared him. So Sage tried a different tactic of staying behind Sanz. She got just close enough to him before covering his eyes, "Guess who?" She asked him, knowing full well Sanz was likely going to flip his shit rather then guess.
 
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Sanz did not notice as Sage crept up behind him. Unfortunately for Sage, he was more right than he knew about Sanz's reaction to being surprised. Once the hands were over his eyes, Sanz's body did not wait for his brain to recognize the voice. The arms were immediately grabbed, and the offending owner thrown over Sanz's shoulder, slamming on the ground in front of him. It was only afterwards that Sanz recognized both the voice and the face in front of him.
"Sage? You nearly gave me a heart attack with that stunt!"
Adrenaline gave way to concern after a couple of moments, and Sanz offered Sage an arm up.