Drip-Fed

A Rivalry 13 – Payment is Due

“It ain’t normal,” Alabasta said.

“Certainly not.” Atlas was gently spreading oil over the length of his blade. The fluid sparkled in the early sunlight. Tiny bits of alchemically loosened true silver particles within the liquid were attracted to the gaps in the enchanted item’s physical shape. Every magical item had a soul, of sorts, and that soul allowed for the intended shape to be reclaimed or retained via procedures like this.

Any tiny scratches or chinks in the weapon were gradually filled up until only oil was left behind. Tarnishing was not a problem when a weapon was made from true silver and enchanted gold, but magical oils had other benefits. This specific oil could be ignited in a pinch. The alchemical compounds would burn for a while.

Atlas turned the blade around and continued with the other side. Next to him, Rahesia was enacting a similar procedure for the shield. She had always been more talented when it came to maintenance, therefore the more heavily damaged armament was under her care. Her helping him in this preceded their romantic entanglement. Back then it had been because the shield was the barrier between their enemies and her. Now it was the barrier between enemies and the two of them.

She was very careful to do it right.

“Do you bring it up to complain or because you want us to do something?” Atlas asked, glancing at the high elf Ranger.

For her part, the white-haired woman was staring at where the corpse had been last night. Morbid curiosity had driven them to each spy out of their tents as soon as the rising sun had given them enough visibility. They had caught the tail-end of the bones dissolving. The Monk that they had interacted with had been a human torso attached to a massive blob of blue acid.

It was an inhuman sight.

That acknowledged Atlas did not think the man himself was inhuman - quite the contrary. “He told us about what he was,” the party leader stated.

“Yeah… I honestly don’t know why I brought it up,” Alabasta scratched the back of her head. “The Omniverse sure is big, huh?”

“Aye,” Kumlin agreed.

“I, uhm, wonder if we should have told him to keep the bones intact?” Flora asked.

“Little late for that now,” Atlas laughed. “But yeah, actually, Gargant bones would sell for a pretty penny… totally slipped my mind last night.”

“We are going to make a nice profit from this mission regardless.” Rahesia tilted the shield so the light reflected off its gleaming surface. A creepy cackle rose from her throat. “A fresh shipment of Darktide Ink is well within my grasp!”

“Careful, guys, the Witch wants to write more curses,” Atlas joked. “Hide your blood.”

“I only needed it that one time!”

They laughed together and continued through their morning routine. Not long after that, the previously invisible frame of the Mobile Estate opened up. The door parted and out jumped the redhead of the Inevitable party. “Change Mansion!”

Atlas had to keep himself from ogling. Progenitor knew that he was a faithful man, but when an athletic redhead in leather armour appeared, any man would have had trouble keeping their eyes on her face. Especially since that leather armour was damaged in various places, adding to that rugged sexiness. The Snakeskin top was fraying at the seams. The tight, stretchy pants had various gaps, out of which brown flesh softly spilled.

He did manage to keep his eyes on her face though. Rahesia raised her voice in the meantime. “Any reason you shout that?” she wanted to know.

“I keep saying it’s not cool enough, agree?”

Kumlin stroked his freshly combed beard. He was still in the process of weaving the pearls back into it. “I can see that it may require some additional… how do they say… razzle-dazzle?”

Snorting, Atlas put his sword into its sheath. “Call it the Apex Den.”

“That’s… not terrible actually.”

Rahesia reached up and scratched the back of her man’s head. “Contrary to our party name, he is not actually bad at naming things.”

“Ya hear that, bubble butt?” Reysha asked and turned to the open door. “Apex Den it is!”

“Your opinion is noted, but not taken as the last word on the matter,” the Priest said, emerging from the Mobile Estate a moment later. “I would prefer it to have some names that do not make it appear as if we advertise a sense of grandeur.”

“Don’t ya know that the two things that sell are sex and sticky names?” Reysha asked.

Atlas followed the back and forth of the Priest and the Rogue with the usual amusement. Those two Classes had a tendency not to get along, for obvious reasons. Polar opposite moral types were attracted to the differing power sets. ‘That in mind, those two are getting along really well… especially considering what their party is,’ Atlas thought.

A mild flash of envy accompanied it when the leader of the Inevitable party stepped out, shortstack in arm. A man with three women could certainly be envied for the benefits of such an arrangement. Atlas knew better than to want that life for himself though. His experience with the fairer sex was chaotic and he was happy to have the one he had in his life. Alabasta and Flora were just friends and he wanted to keep it that way.

“Do you have the heads?” Atlas asked.

Apexus patted the bag on his hips. It had been a pain to cram them past the opening, but he had managed. “Could they not be faked?” he wondered. He had a tendency to ask questions out of the blue.

“They’ll check the circumference of the skulls. Gargants have bigger heads, it’s in the name,” Atlas said, jokingly. “Now, this is the part where we attack you and take all the money for ourselves!”

Aclysia glared at him from the corner of her eyes and the Warrior had the decency to awkwardly clear his throat. At least Reysha giggled. Korith gave it an uncertain smirk. Apexus’ face was an unmoving mask.

All of them were in poor equipment.  Nothing Apexus wore, besides the bag and the key, was even magical. The grey robe and baggy pants were both stained with months’ worth of mud and other dirt. Aclysia’s robe was silk and she kept it decently clean, but even she could not do anything against the places where the occasional monster attack had torn into the blessed garment. Korith got away the best, but Atlas knew when armour was kept together by shoestring and desperation.

‘Tough crowd,’ he thought. “Alright, if we have everything then… I guess we might as well go?”

__________________________________________________________________________

The journey back was eventless. They made it back into Drowse territory in their adventuring gear, then changed to more casual travelling clothes when the landscape went from ‘untamed’ to ‘occasionally dangerous’. Once they reached the source of the river, they did as the Quest giver had suggested and boarded a ship. They did not need it to get home, but it was still faster.

“You should take the lead,” Atlas suggested, once they were by the Adventurer’s Guild.

It was noon. Contradictory to most expectations, that was the least busy hour of the day for the building. Adventurers typically ate hearty breakfasts and dinners. Every hour in between was usually filled with snacks. A habit picked up from the constant marching those in the trade did.

“Why?” Apexus wanted to know.

“Build yourself a reputation. You haven’t been properly registered on this Leaf yet, right?” Atlas asked with a grin. “You’ll need the iron if you want to buy the good stuff.”

Apexus could only nod to that logic. It felt somewhat wrong to be the one to step forwards when it was Atlas that had suggested the alliance, but, for the sake of the party, the humanoid chimera had to accept that. He, Atlas, and Aclysia went inside.

Remembering something, Atlas quickly grabbed Apexus by the sleeve and had him bow down to hear his whisper. “She’ll be asking if the guild can buy the heads afterwards,” he told the Monk. “Usually you should say no, I know a guy that pays more for the bones, but to get some good credit, say yes.”

Apexus nodded again, then they actually went for the desk. “I wish to collect the bounty for the Chimera Gargant,” he told the receptionist.

“The one in the border zone?” she asked for clarification and was pleasantly surprised by his nod. “That one has been trouble. One moment…” she flipped through a stack of cards until she found the correct one. “Come with me for the verification process please.”

The three of them followed the woman to a backroom. It was scarce when it came to decorations and every surface had deliberately been covered in the kind of alchemical lacquer that could withstand heavy scrubbing. The door closed perfectly, to ensure no maggot was capable of crawling out. Showing proof was often unhygienic business.

“If you would please present the heads,” the receptionist requested and gestured at a nearby table. There were four of them, all of them currently empty. During busier hours, more than one verification may have been ongoing.

Apexus pulled the heads from his adventurer’s bag one after another. He placed them down and the receptionist grabbed a few ropes that hung from the wall. Each of them was marked for the average chimera head’s circumference. She whistled when the rope barely managed to do a loop. “It was a really big one,” Atlas chimed in.

“I can see that,” the receptionist said, held the rope by the overlap point, and then carried it over to a ruler for proper measuring. She entered the numbers into a table for re

“First, we need to cover our needs. If we have excess, that can go to Hoard,” the humanoid chimera said. Aclysia gathered up the money, then they set out.

There was still more money to come their way, somehow.