News was that the boat left The Island a while ago and even though I knew it would arrive shortly, that didn't override the impatience of standing on the dock waiting for it.
I was anxious to get back to hunting, but without my bow that would be quite difficult. I lent it to Johnny so he could harvest supplies and get a few levels under his belt faster than with his handful of starter spells. If things went as planned, he should be back with a good sized sack of resources.
It took an hour for the next five minutes to pass, but the boat pulled in and the passengers disembarked and headed for town. Johnny came running up with a rather small bag over his shoulder.
"Zhel," he called, "how was your week? I've got your bow and that bag of supplies you needed!"
He handed me my bow and a quiver of arrows, and then sat the sack at my feet.
"Hey, well, gee," he said rather hurriedly, "I need to get my ticket and get back on the boat. Got work to do still back in the Village. Good to see you, though!"
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA," as I grabbed his arm with one hand and opened the bag with the other, "where's the iron? Where's my charcoal?"
"Well, hehehe, Zhel, baby, the island's a dangerous place, you know? And..."
"Where's my shit, Johnny?" I was ticked off. "We made a deal. You get to use the bow as long as you fill the order while you're there."
"Well, Zhel, there's a lot of ... factors that contributed to this issue here. I mean, I got you the coal you needed and all the varnish, but... you see - " He was nervous and rightfully so. He knows he screwed up and I wasn't sure whether or not I was ready for the excuses.
"There was this Dwarf. Seoul. He was buying up everything. I didn't have the capital to compete with his prices! And then Purechick and frenchfries were all over the island making it IMPOSSIBLE to farm. And then there was the slight iron spill that - "
"Spill?"
"Well, yeah, kindasorta, a spill. There was a -"
"A SPILL?"
"Ok, so I killed someone and got whacked for it so, well, the iron kinda *isn't* anymore."
"So I'm still at square one on this sabre Tinqr wants to make. The past week was a waste."
"Zhel, I don't want to be the one to break it to you, but Tinqr was never going to be able to make that sabre because Tinqr is an idiot. She's got the brain of an elpy, Zhel."
"Yes. The brain of an elpy. However, the ability to turn 250k of supplies into a 400k weapon," I said with a strong effort to keep my cool, "so let's lay off the Tinqr bashing especially when SHE is the one coming through with her end of the deal."
Johnny looked nervous but still didn't seem to be cognizant of how bad he screwed me over. Then he lit up with a smile like he just spotted a pot of adena.
"Krag... Kragsomething, " he said while frantically pointing in the direction of the boat, "You know how you were interested in that Get Medieval -"
"Guild Medieval"
"Yeah, that Medieval guild. I met this guy on the boat who knows Drak Doombringer. The guy's name is Kragsomething. Can't miss him. Human mage with this reddish robe and a big stick. He just got off the boat with me before so he can't be far from town."
While the description was vague, it does point me in the right direction. I grabbed the sack, tossed a boat ticket to Johnny, and headed for town. "The information bought your way out of this one, kid."
"Zhel, honey, you're the gal, " he said with a point and a wink, "Heading back to the Island. I've got golems to kill and spiders to run from!"
I think he's got a personality disorder, because he's a different person each time I speak to him. Then again, Talking Island does wonders for the mind and disposition, so I guess it should be expected. I ran up the hill to Gludin and checked around the vendors and shops for a person fitting the description given.
In the sea of dark elves and armorclad humans, he was relatively easy to spot.
"Krag!" I called, "got a minute?"
I ran up to a few feet from him and he turned to give me his attention. I smiled and then we began walking out the east exit and talking.
"Krag, you met a friend of mine on the boat; a support mage from TI. He said you know Drak. I was interested in joining Guild Medieval and wanted to know who I could speak with about that. Whangdoodle mentioned they could use an archer or two."
He said he knew Drak very well and mentioned that Drak would be back in town shortly and suggested we head back in and speak with Drak directly. We headed back to town and I thanked him for his time. I waited in the area he said Drak would be heading to, and, YES, I do realize that's a whole lotta 'Draks' for such a small paragraph.
Drak showed up and from claws to clothes was head to toe in gold. I had grown accustomed to orcs being a short, stumpy bunch so this rather regal looking humanoid caught me offguard.
After brief introductions, we headed out to do some hunting. He had a unique style of hunting where he would adjust not only weapons but also armor based on his opponent. When dropped back and casting or on fast kills, he wore the gold raiments, but when things got thick it looked like he tossed a metal jacket on and barely took damage. It was nice to meet a mage that wasn't all kite.
We hit it off and it looked like I both got in a guild and made a friend. Another friend in a foreign and hostile world is a good thing, I must add.
At the end of the night, we headed back to town and stopped at the warehouse. He spoke with the Dwarf at the counter and we talked more about the guild while the Warehousekeeper fetched Drak's items. A few minutes later, the Dwarf returned with an Elven bow.
"Give me your bow and take this one," he said, "and I've got a pack of soulshot for you, too."
I now had in my hands an Elven Bow. The damage that I could do with this thing would be well beyond what my comp bow was doing.
"Drak, this is... incredible! I can't.. I mean, this is... thank you, Drak!"
Drak cited a few reasons how it benefits both him and I to have that bow in my hands and reiterated a few points
about the clan. We said our goodbyes and called it a night. I went to sleep feeling confident about this fellow
and the direction things were going. I was eager to start a new day and meet the other members of Drak's clan
and Guild Medieval."
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