"Ok, to be fair, even you just walked in and layed down on any available floor space."
Jax argued as I sat in a corner of the cart riding down my track down the mountain. I don't think I can really be blamed since I had woken up to see that almost my entire house had been covered in ash and soot, a house I normally was so meticulous to keep clean because of mixing herbs causing problems in more complex potions reduced to the cleanliness of a used firepit overnight. So, I ended up sulking the whole ride down to the city. I hadn't even realized we had come to a stop as we reached the end of the track.
"Aiden, buddy, you there?"
He asked as he used his front legs to shake me back and forth. I ended up getting splashed by Misty before I finally got out of the cart and trudged down the path to the city, the entire time mumbling to myself about how much it would take to clean. However, as we approached the city, I saw Larz and my mood improved a bit. He was already laughing as we walked up.
"Did you all roll in a firepit or something?"
"Something like that."
Liora said wiping her sleeve off as a small rain of ash fell down. Larz looked us over for a moment, before he broke out into a cheeky grin as he turned to Jax.
"Well?"
He asked raising an eyebrow. Jax returned the smug grin.
"You were right, you're the winner of the bet."
I was rather confused, as Larz rose up on his back legs doing a small dance as he spun around and pointed down the road
"In yo face, free drinks for a week!!"
"Only for yourself, no sharing and running me out of business you overgrown hairball!"
Came the annoyed sounding reply of Eustus as he walked back down the road from where he had been waiting.
"Am I missing something?"
I asked as we headed into the city.
"Larz and Eustus had a bet as to whether we would succeed or need more time, Larz won."
Jax said shrugging. I just shook my head, almost wiping my classes with my shirt before remembering our current attires condition. What is with everyone and betting on my successes? I thought as I turned to Jax and held out a hand.
"We still need to turn in the quest, right? You and I can take it in."
"Sounds good, how about you 3 see if you can get something for us to eat, that and see if you can find a way to get your clothes clean."
Liora tapped the end of her staff on the ground as a circle of whipping wind swirled around us carrying almost all of the ash away.
Party member Liora has used the skill Whipping Wind(E)
The effectiveness or ranged attacks is reduced by its buffer
"Sorry, I was just getting super tired of walking around in a bunch of ash and the last first impression we need of our group is you two turning in a quest while covered in more ash that a feast halls fireplace."
"And you didn't use this very much convenient skill to clean my house in which you all have been crashing at why?"
I asked feeling both relieved at the fact that I was no longer covered in ash, but also annoyed thinking of how much it would take to clean my house.
"Well, it's not like I can control the direction, it just blasts the ash away from me in a 10ft circle, I don't exactly control where it goes after that, its why I waited till we were in an open area without plants, minecart would have been covered, and your house would just have a bunch of ash swirling around it."
I wanted to argue, but it made sense, especially as I looked up and saw the ash starting to fall back down.
"Thats… Thats fair, frustrating but fair."
I turned back to Jax as the two of us started to make our way down the road. In a weird way, the city felt brighter than before. We made our way down the road, past the library and towards the Hopestone adventurers guild. It was a simple building, no larger than an inn, but only those who have tried for a quest or are getting their plates are allowed inside. Standing to the left of the doorway was a set of two billboards featuring quests. Even with a passing glance I could see quests even up to as high as Sapphire rank, but that still didn't ring much of a bell for me.
"Looks like someone has gotten a case of quest craze, let's turn in this one before we go looking to take on another."
Jax said as we headed inside. The room was spacious, to the right a fireplace sat unlit with several long tables with other groups wearing a variety of armors and robes looking over quests of their own. A set of 3 lines stood at the front where an elven woman, a human man, and a dwarven woman wore uniforms as they discussed details with those at the front of the lines. I turned to the left of the room where what looked to be a bar sat, a halfblood beetle beastman cleaned a glass with one set of arms and poured a drink with another. The place had an upstairs area, but I couldn't see much more than that. Jax nudged me and gestured with his nose to the upstairs.
"It's a special place only the super high rank adventurers get to go to, it's got forges, living quarters, food and more, all paid for by the guild."
"So, they pay for you to have a place to stay, eat and more?"
"Yea, but its only for bronze rank and up."
"I've actually never heard of the ranks, well I know they exist and only adventurers of a certain rank can do some quests, but how does it work?"
Jax took a moment to think before he said
"Well there are 10 total ranks of adventurers. Those are Porcelain, Obsidian, Steel, Emerald, Ruby, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum."
"You missed one, after steel there is Sapphire."
The person ahead of us in line said
"Really, crap, I might not know this as well as I thought, and you are?"
"Todis, Todis Jackel, a Steel plate Gunner."
The figure turned around. He was around 5'11 with a shade of afternoon shadow. He wore a long coat with a set of pistols at his sides as well as a bullet belt around his waist. He gave a calm polite smile as I could see what looked to be a metal plate with a triangular piece of metal in it.
"When it comes to ranks you need two things, the correct level and the plate mission, or in my case a replate mission. Only difference between the two is a plate mission is for when your just getting to procaline and a replate is when you go up a rank, generally speaking its a test of skill meant to ensure that one doesn't take off more than they can chew."
"So since there are 10 ranks, is it a case of every 10 levels you get your next plate?"
"Correct, so to go from porcelain to Obsidian you need to get to level 15 and complete a replate quest. Then for Obsidian to Steel level 25"
"The why the weird shape?"
"Of the plate symbol? I have no clue, but the general running theory is that even those who have no Idea how the plates work can count the corners to know what kind of rank an adventure is."
I wanted to ask another question, but Todis's turn was up as he turned and turned in a quest to hunt down a pack of 20 dire wolves. He quickly turned it in, was handed his reward and we were up.
"Hi, were here to turn in our plate quest and register our party."
"Thats in the other line, this is for general quests."
We both turned to the other line, this line had been 5 people tops, but as we turned, we saw the line leading literally out the door. It was at this point I thought back to the caravan Jax had come in on saying it was a bunch of people seeking their plates. Jax and I turned to each other and quietly stepped into the next line. I would describe the next 3 hours to you, but I really don't like thinking about them. Especially being in the wrong line to register our party after turning in our plate quest. So, by the time Jax and I stepped out our legs were tired from standing, but at least we had 5 plates and 500 gold in a bag.
"You two look like you have never been through guild bureaucracy, how was your first time through the wringer?"
Todis asked having waited by looking over the quest board. We made our way over as Jax asked.
"This is what happens every time!?"
"Oh yea, most parties have people draw straws, loser turns in the quest, I got unlucky today, same happen to you?"
"Nope, numbnuts over here volunteered us."
"Well, Jax, if I had known what it would have entailed, I would have sent you alone."
This made Todis crack up as he took a minute to catch his beath.
"So, you all have a next quest you thinking of doing?"
"Not really, we were gonna take a look at them after we grabbed dinner."
"Do you plan to travel or no?"
I opened my mouth and closed it a few times, not really sure before Jax said
"Depends on the group consensus."
"Thats a good way to have things, I've seen a few parties fall apart because they couldn't agree on stuff."
Jax and Todis started to talk about stuff as I turned to look at the board. However before I could for long I felt someone grab the back of my shirt. I tried to turn back but couldn't as I heard a very annoyed sounding Kaelen say.
"We have been sitting there for 4 hours, where in the hells where you?"
"In our defense, the line was literally out the door, what did you want us to do?"
Kaelen rolled his eyes, turning around and starting to walk as he said
"Fine, but you all better have our plates and reward money."
We followed behind, waving at Todis who waved back before heading towards the local inn. As we walked Kaelen was walking fast while Jax and I were taking our time.
"Why are you rushing, were all sore, and the seared tusk isn't going anywhere."
Jax said wincing slightly as he tried to stretch one of his legs out a bit.
"Well, I want to get back, this beastfolk named Kinwal is telling us these stories about-."
Kaelen said getting cut off as I grabbed the back of his color and the scruff of Jax's neck. I would never describe myself a forceful guy, but the fear and memories of my teenage years and the very embarrassing stuff I did make me writhe internally as I practically dragged the two behind me sprinting down the road.