Duty Session 100: Convoy Escort Quest I

U.L.P. sits at the gathering point, waiting for others to show up.  Not so surprised when it's Shin again, he gives the other man a wave.  "Well, fancy meeting you here," He says, before turning to move along with the cart.  "Feels like we're the only ones doing anything these days.."

Of course, when the mission goes sideways right out of the gate, the bard is frowning.  "Do what now?  That's not what I signed up for..." he says, before eventually realizing there isn't anyway forward with this quest unless they agree to lead it.  Ugh...

So pulling out a map and squinting at it, he tries to decipher it, angry that things like reading a map are a skill he doesn't have for some reason?  He traces out what he knows, and tries to make a guess based on what he sees.  Of course, it probably won't be that easy!

     "I...have no idea where we are."

     Shin doesn't seem especially bothered by it. It's not his problem, it's the caravan's, after all. He gives U.L.P. a bit of a grin. "Apparently, living in the city all my life's dulled my sense of direction."

     His hands go behind his head as they walk. "You know what I really miss, all of a sudden? Street signs. We should get some set up. Maybe some district setups, too."

     Shin taps the back of his skull. "I've been thinking about figuring out a way to breed monsters for traits. Maybe we even set up a carriage service."

     He peeks over at the map.

     "Then again," Shin says, stretching as they walk through the miles of rolling hills, "This isn't bad, either, I guess. If you're going to get lost, better to get lost in a beautiful countryside than in a dark city. Even if I know my way around the city."

     "And wouldn't mind venting my frustrations once in a while."

     Thump.

     The wagon comes to a sudden stop. One of the Landers comes around. "Sorry about this," he says, holding up one hand, "It's stuck in some really deep mud."

     Shin sighs and presses his hands together. His foot comes down into the mud; it hardens a bit. "Here," he says to U.L.P., "You should be able to push this a little easier."

"Street signs!  You know it's the little things you take for granted.  I mean, I get how to navigate the cities here, but outside of them?  It's like I forget how to use a map for some reason?  I think it might be a game mechanic, but I swear whoever designed this must have equated READING to WRITING a map.  Annoying.." he grouses to himself.

"Oh yeah?  I mean, if you can find a monster that can be a better beast of burden than the horse, and can bread it for being tame..." he shrugs, "Animal husbandry isn't one of my many skills."

Of course, the wagon gets stuck.  "I'll push, Shin think you can do anything about the footing?" he asks before giving the thing a giant push.

With the mud bypassed, U.L.P. wipes the mud from his face with a frown.  Shaking his head he nods towards Shin.  "Thanks for the help...well back on the road before I lose my patience with all of these delays," he says with a muttering.  

However, when things turn to night, and it's revealed that the landers couldn't even resolve their food issues correctly...standing up, grabbing his bow he frowns at the group of landers.  "You didn't get a guide slash leader for this, your food supply is compromised...seriously, who even set up this shit show?" He says, annoyed.  

He walks out to set up hunting something big enough to feed the group.  Before he stabs a lander.

     "Probably, they didn't expect to get lost for a while," Shin replies cheerfully as they go out hunting. It doesn't take long for Shin to bring back several animals just slung over his shoulder; they all have fist-marks in them, and have clearly been just straight up beaten to death. One of them is very large.

     He tosses them down in front of the fire and sits down to eat, laying out against the grass. His foot kicks up over his shoulder. "This really is," he says, "A better world."

     "I could never have experienced something like this in our dying world."

     He doesn't sleep early that night.

     They rise bright and early, and begin the march. Unfortunately, the road winds through the forest Shin had been hunting in last night - and his actions drew some attention, alright.

     A group of bandits with blades slung over their shoulders arrive. "Yo," the lead one, an ugly man missing a tooth, "This here's a toll road."

     "Your GP," he says, "Or your HP."

     "What's 'GP'?" Shin asks as the guy comes closer. The bandit sneers at him.

     "Money. Your money. Give us your mone-"

     "Oh, it's a mugging." Shin taps the side of his head. "Right. Well. In that case."

     He cracks his knuckles. "I don't really fight outside my real form...but you're just muggers, right? You're not even monsters. It'd be pretty unfair of me."

     "So how about this." Shin taps the side of his head. "You can give *me* *your* money, or I can take your lives."

     The bandit leader steps back. "Wh..what? Don't you even know how this works?"

     "Sure." Shin rolls his neck. "I don't allow evil to win. So you might as well give me your money, because there's no chance you will."

     "I'm a Hero of Justice, after all.

The next morning, and once Shin is up because it's just dumb to talk to a sleeping person...and rude!  "Sure, you may not have to experience this in our old world, but there is a reason why we advanced as a civilization.  Do you think this world is a true representation of our pass?  We're virtually immortal supermen, and the world is far less horrific than reality."

However, at the announcement of a 'toll' and the fact that they want more than their stuff...well as the man demands their stuff, he fires a shot right into the chest of the head bandit.  "Which one is that?  If you want some more of my items I can give them to you!  Just let me start with my arrows.  One at a time." He says with a grin.  More fire as he teams with Shin to drive the bandits away.

Still, with that cleared, the day passes and night seems to bring a daze over the group.  People just look like their pet cat has died.  "I don't see why you all have to be so depressed.  You just watched two heroes defeat a group of bandits..." he says, and starting to put the adventure to song, expounding on things...and of course making some jokes of the various landers to get a laugh.

     "I keep telling you I think it's better," Shin says as the badits leave, "Of course it's not a representation of our past. It's *better* than our past. Don't you guys listen to me?"

     The depressed people get a grin. "Oh, is that right?"

     Well, a spectacle is also part of a Hero of Justice's job.

     He hammers on the belt. The music plays. It's sort of like listening to somebody beatbox a BGM. It's pretty wild, but it's also kind of fun. It ends with people clapping along to the theme song.

     The next day, the convoy arrives...and immediately, the Lander comes up.

     "Sorry, sorry, but...it looks like our buyer's not here. Can you, uh, help us look for him?"

     Shin shrugs. "Not really my departmen,t but sure, why not."

     He goes and grabs one of the nearby Landers. "Hey, you. Go find the buyer."

     "Now, this," Shin adds, "This I didn't miss. Selling things to people...what a pain. I thought I'd gotten away from that part."

     "I guess even here, huh."

"I mean, you keep calling it our dying world.  Soooo..." he shrugs.  The song of the night was LESS than stellar, but fortunately Shin is just heroic all the time so that works!

At the place, he is already pinching the bridge of his nose.  "Alright sure."

Of course, using what merchant contacts he has, there is nothing to be found.

"Welp, couldn't find them. However, finding him wasn't in my contract, so I want my pay." he says, and willing to just be /ABSOLUTELY DONE/ with this place.