Alburet stepped into the glowing circle and felt himself lurch as if he had been shoved from behind while being yanked forward while the world went bright blue around him. When his vision cleared he was standing in the courtyard of a garrison. Frank was standing just to the side tapping his foot, “What took so long?”
Alburet grimaced as he focused on Frank’s portrait and wished the group disbanded. “Nothing,” Alburet said as the group dissolved, “I just am not in a hurry, so feel free to run along.”
“What the fuck ever, dude,” DrFrank said before running into the main building.
Alburet rubbed his temples for a second, thinking of all the twentish year old males he used to deal with on a regular basis. Shaking his head he looked around, spotting a merchant next to a cart along one wall as well as smith on the other wall. All around he could see soldiers walking around from point to point, some doing sword practice while others practiced with bows and crossbows. Figuring the quests were inside the keep, he went that way at the same walking pace he had before. As he walked he held out his hand palm down, “Come to me Bob the Mighty.”
In a puff of smoke Bob appeared and began to skip along behind him, “Are we going to be killing things again?”
“Once I get some quests we’ll be heading to a place full of goblins to kill,” Alburet informed the inquisitive imp.
“Oh, good,” Bob said chuckling darkly. “I do so love toasted goblin in the morning.”
Laughing Alburet looked back to see Bob wringing his hands, “That might be a little over the top.”
Bob paused, “Most of my previous masters liked that kind of thing.”
“Meh, just be yourself. I’m not a demanding sort.” Alburet replied as he nodded to the two guards flanking the door eyeing him and the imp warily. He stopped before one of them, “So I heard there are quests to kill goblins here, where do I go?”
“See the quartermaster and the senior Sergeant, each of them will give you quests,” the guard replied, eyeing him coolly.
“Thanks,” Alburet said, thinking the booklet for the class should have mentioned the negative view the guards all seemed to have towards Summoners.
Entering the keep, he followed the main hall until he came to the main room. There were people just hanging about chatting as well as two men at desks on opposite sides of the room from each other. Going over to the desk with no clustered around it, Alburet greeted the man with three stripes on his tunic. “Sergeant, I was told you would have a quest for me involving the goblins sir.” Alburet said, coming to parade rest before the desk.
The Sergeant looked up with an amused glance, “Fancy yourself a man of discipline, do you?”
“I once kept the company of such men sir, it is a hard habit to break,” Alburet replied with a smile as he dropped the parade rest stance. “They were good men and I was honored to serve with them.”
The Sergeant paused, looking from Alburet to Bob and back, “Must have been before you manifested Summoner powers then.”
“I’m an adventurer sir,” Alburet replied.
“Ah, one of the two-souled. That makes more sense. You are a bit unusual for a two-souled, you didn’t come running up and demanding a quest like the rest have.” As the words left the Sergeant’s mouth a person came running up to them.
“Hey dude, give me the quest for the goblins,” DrFrank said bluntly as he smirked at Alburet.
Alburet’s lips quirked as he bit back his laughter. The Sergeant nodded to Frank. “Right, I need five goblin heads to prove your valor,” the Sergeant said, only to see Frank run off a second later. “So sad, they just accept any quest at all.”
Alburet snorted, shaking his head, “Like recruits who think they own the world.”
With a deep belly laugh the Sergeant nodded, “Pretty close, yes. As for you, kill me any twenty goblins. For that I will give you coin, no need to bring back proof. For each extra goblin killed I will increase the reward. Also, they sometimes carry arm bands. The king has special bounties for those armbands so make sure to bring them back to the quartermaster across the room.”
Quest: Kill at least twenty goblins
Reward: 50 silver per twenty goblins killed, increased rep with all Stormguard reputations
Alburet snapped a salute, “Sir, yes sir.”
Chuckling, the Sergeant shook his head before returning the salute, “Dismissed, private.”
Alburet spun on his heel and walked across the room to another man in uniform. “Sir, I am here to ask about any quests you might have for me to undertake.”
The quartermaster looked up from his clipboard, “Huh, that was the most polite request I’ve heard all day. I want the goblin’s supplies captured. Bring back at least five caches and I will make sure you are rewarded. The more you capture the more I can give you in return. Also, the king has a standing bounty on the arm bands the goblins occasionally have. Bring me any you find and I will make sure the king’s orders are fulfilled.”
Quest: Capture at least five goblin supply caches
Rewards: Variable
Quest: Goblin armbands
Rewards: Depends on type and number of arm bands by King’s order
Alburet snapped a salute with a smile, “Glad to be of service sir. I shall return upon completing my objective.”
The quartermaster raised a brow before returning the salute, “Dismissed.”
Alburet turned sharply to his right and walked out of the room. Once clear Bob coughed, “You used to be with the guard?”
“Not them, but a type of guard yes,” Alburet said with a strained smile. “Let’s not talk about that, okay?”
Bob nodded, eyeing his Summoner with thoughtful eyes. “We are going off to kill things now, right?”
A dark chuckle escaped Alburet, “That is the plan, yes.”
They walked out the main gates to see grassy plains stretching out before them. Alburet could see the goblin fort in the distance. It looked like a standard fort to Alburet’s eyes from this distance as he took in the view. Between the two forts Alburet noticed a number of people and goblins engaged in combat. As he focused on different groups, he saw that all of the mobs were Goblin Scavengers. “Looks like we shall have competition, Bob,” Alburet said as he started walking.
“That’s okay we can range pull them. As long as you don’t pull too fast we should be able to keep a steady pace,” Bob said.
“As long as none of them are in chain and wielding two-handed swords,” Alburet said.
Bob chuckled, “I can save you again if that happens.”
“I recall me saving you a few times in there, too. In fact, I made sure you never got so much as wind burn from that sword.” Alburet replied with a grin.
“True, true and I am grateful for that. I’m thinking I might have exploded if I’d been hit.”
Alburet watched the action around him as they walked across the plains, casting Demon Skin on himself. “Looks like they come out of the fort and jog down to various spots in the field. We can’t keep up with the rate they leave the fort but we could probably snag a spot they go to.”
Bob pointed to one corner of the keep, “Right corner, looks like no one is bothering the goblin over there.”
Alburet looked over, nodding, “Sure enough. As much as I hate running, let’s kick it up.”
He began to run, with Bob doing his running skip to keep up. As they closed on their target Alburet realized he covered ground fast at a run as he went right by a few people soloing goblins. As they approached the one near the corner it turned to face them, showing a fang filled mouth. His target was a Goblin Scavenger, level 6 with 600/600 health. It wore ragged leather armor and carried a rusty sword. Alburet cast Demonic Retribution on himself as he closed the distance. “You’re on Bob. Keep a reserve for emergencies through, please.”