"How can your mind be a steel trap for information that you're sleeping through?" Finn asked, confused. "There's no way you can retain information that you didn't process in the first place, and the professor puts some super hard specific details in his exams!" He sighed, groaning softly. He always did fine on the tests, of course, but he did have to study for them, and they were kind of a pain.
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"I'm going to have to agree with Finn on that one," Castor said, "You're definitely joking with us. Right?"
Aesir laughed. "Only partially. It's not like I have the highest grades in our class, but I remember just about everything we could foreseeably need to know. And the training- I practice my stealth during training usually if I'm not out at the shooting range. Which you don't use."
Castor shrugged. "Fair enough."
"I guess that makes sense." Finn shrugged and looked forward, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I think we're almost there, at least… thank god. I'm getting antsy to do something already." He laughed softly.
"You're terribly impatient." Delta remarked. "Part of this assignment is to learn to enjoy the journey as well, after all." Finn stuck his tongue out at them.
"It'll be nice if we can get it done quickly," Aesir replied, "We'll get a bit of a break if we finish before it's due. But if there were no school, no looming deadline- well, I'd be a lot more inclined to enjoy the journey."
"It was a longer walk than I thought," Castor agreed, "This wasn't the part I wanted to sink my time into, but that's it up ahead, isn't it? We'll be fine."
"Yeah, but if we finish early, then we won't get to hang out with each other as long." Finn pouted a bit. He was really looking forward to getting to know some of his classmates better since it was hard for him to come up with good ways most of the time. He wanted to make friends, but starting conversations was hard.
"We could always just hang out outside of the project." Delta suggested in a calm voice. "We aren't restricted to only spend time with each other within the bounds of this assignment. If we want to, we can hang out elsewhere."
"Yeah, I mean, we can always do that, if you guys really want to," Castor agreed, "It'll be good to actually… I don't know, make friends here."
Aesir smiled slightly. "What, now that you're forced to interact with us?"
Castor shook his head. "Yeah- I-I guess. It's been an adjustment. I really just came here to get stronger, but I guess forming relationships is important too-"
Aesir jogged ahead to look at what was before them.
"Yup, here we are! Says the questgiver is… uhm… In the farmhouse on the eastside, so we'll head that way."
Finn smiled brightly at the others in the group and picked up the pace. "That's great! I'd be glad to hang out with you guys. I've got loads of free time. You can come see my cat, and my frog! I think they're pretty neat. And we can train together! It's good to practice in groups, isn't it? Since we're planning to be adventurers?" He rambled on a bit as they made their way to the farmhouse. Delta watched him with a mildly exasperated, yet fond expression.
"You have a cat?" Castor asked, softly but clearly excited. His eyes lit up in a way they really hadn't since they'd embarked on this journey. "And yeah, sure. It'll be good for us, as long as we're not exhausted after all this."
Aesir led the way through the town, as they were most familiar with this town.
"I don't usually train with other people, so I think it'll be good practice for the old hand-to-hand, yeah?" they said.
"Yeah, I do! Her name is Mushroom, and she's a pretty little calico cat…" Finn smiled fondly, clearly glad to talk about his pets. "She's super sweet; she loves people." He had a bit of a spring in his step as he carried on.
"Training in groups is definitely helpful. It's good for building trust and helping you to rely on others to cover your blind spots." Delta explained. "If you're only training by yourself, you won't be prepared to join an adventuring group after we graduate."
"That is very much true," Aesir agreed, "I'll get around to working on that… eventually, I guess. I just have very little use in actual active battle."
"Doesn't that just mean you should get better at it instead?" Castor suggested.
Aesir gave a weak smile. "If only it were as simple as me not being skilled enough. I freeze up. Or I'll run. I'm not exactly the most courageous person I know."
(Castor, foaming at the mouth: I like cats a normal amount)
(Asfghjk mood)
"Well, we can help you with your courage!" Finn encouraged, holding up his fists in enthusiasm. "If it can trust your teammates, I bet you'll feel more confident, yeah? We've got your back!"
Delta nodded in agreement, adjusting their cloak on their shoulders. "Your teammates are there to cover your weaknesses. If you make a mistake, it isn't necessarily the end."
(I specifically have a thing for black cats. See: my pfp. That's my kitty :))) )
"Maybe so," Aesir replied, "I've never really been with a team long enough to build that kind of trust, honestly. And where I came from, it was the end a lot of the time. So you can see how all of that came to be."
They stopped the group in front of the farmhouse.
"And here we are. Let's get started."
Castor motioned at them. "You going to knock on the door?"
"No," They replied with a shrug.
(Aww, I have a (mostly) black cat as well ^^)
"I'm sure we can get there if we work at it." Finn hummed softly and looked up at the building with his hands on his hips. He looked between the other group members to see which of them was going to knock.
After a few seconds, Delta rolled their eyes and steppes forward to knock on the door. "It doesn't matter who knocks. We just need to get started."
(Aww nice)
"Thanks," Aesir said softly when Delta finally stepped forwards.
A few moments after the knock, the questgiver came to the door. She was a middle-aged woman, very tired and frazzled-looking. She actually managed a smile when the group came to her doorstep.
"Oh, dears. Are you here to help with the request I sent out?" she asked, "What a relief."
Castor looked back and forth between the others before speaking. "What can you tell us?"
"There's a monster or something out there that's been hurting our townsfolk who leave the village, even barely. Nobody has seen it clearly. We have to tell the children to stay in the village. It finally killed one of my boys 'round a week ago, and I don't know what to do. How can we fight something if we don't know what it is?"
"Well, I can help us figure that out, at least," Aesir said, "I'm a good tracker usually. Maybe there are some clues. We should collect more details from the townsfolk once we're done here."
Finn and Delta listened closely, nodding along as the woman explained. "I'm sorry that you've gone through so much trouble with this monster, ma'am… we'll look into it right away." Finn insisted gently, trying to reassure her somewhat.
"We'll check with some of the other townsfolk to piece together a physical description of the monster. Do you have any information about people who might have information? Other reports?" Delta asked the woman, pulling out a notepad to write down anything important.
"Well…. the monster- or monsters love to kill livestock, but not to eat them, it seems. But as for other reports, they're all over. You might have some luck if you talk to the lumberjack or the fishmonger. They're both in the woods a lot," she continued, As for your reward, the posted amount was baseline. And you're more than welcome to stay in the nearest inn for free. I arranged something with the keeper, since this is such a pressing matter."
"Thank you, ma'am," Castor replied, "I know we can't bring your son back, but we'll do everything to make sure no one else has to end up like him. Anything else you guys want to get out of the way before we go pay someone else a visit?"
Finn and Delta nodded again and prepared to leave. "That's all very helpful ma'am, thank you." Finn dipped his head politely and fastened his cloak. Delta wrote down the names of the people that the woman suggested they check with and put the notepad back in their bag.
"We'll do that, and we'll get to get this issue resolved as soon as possible." Delta bowed and looked to the others. "I think we've got enough to get a lead, at least. It's getting late now, so we may want to start our investigation in the morning once our witnesses are awake."
"Right, let's get down to that inn. Maybe we can mingle with some of the townsfolk in the tavern part, get some information before we go to bed," Aesir suggested, "The inn is only a short walk away."
They again led the way, but this time it was only a few rows down before they made it. The inn was usually bustling, but it seemed fairly quiet now. People must not want to travel here with monsters running amok.
Finn and Delta followed along behind Aesir, looking around as they walked. Finn was more curious about what the best ways to get around might be, and Delta was trying to figure out the layout of the town so that they could find the correct witnesses in the morning. The tavern was a good place to start as well; all sorts of people mingled there, so they might have some information.
"Right. It'll be good to ask around the inn… there's a decent chance that there might be witnesses in there as well." Delta sighed softly, pulling their notebook back out just in case.
"I can also draw out a rough town map for us," Aesir suggested, "so you guys can familiarize yourselves."
"That might be helpful," Castor agreed, "We can do that if there's time after interviewing people."
Aesir came to the entrance and held the door open for their companions.
"Yeah, that would be nice." Delta replied, dipping their head in thanks to Aesir before they headed into the inn. Finn did the same and looked around curiously. "It was really nice of that lady to let us stay here for free. We should try and resolve this quickly so she doesn't have to pay as much, assuming she's the one paying for it."
"I think the innkeep might be giving us free board," Aesir replied, "This problem is affecting the whole town, so I'm sure they want to do what they can to make sure we can get rid of their problem as quickly as possible."
Castor nodded. "Sure. Once we find whatever it is, I'm sure taking care of the monster will be easy enough."
Aesir walked up to the tavern counter, looking behind them to make sure the others followed.
"Hey, we're here on that contract. The woman who lives in the farmhouse- the woman who lost her son- sent us," they explained, "She said we could board here, and we might like to ask around about the monster, if that's alright."
"Ah, that makes sense…" Finn mumbled, looking forward again once the group made it to the counter. Delta was already scribbling down a few notes on something, but Finn didn't ask them what.
The tavernkeeper glanced up from where she was cleaning the counter and straightened, nodding. "Yes, I was told we'd be seeing adventurers soon. You're welcome to ask around as long as you don't disturb the guests too much." She replied. Finn and Delta nodded.
"Thank you very much, ma'am. We'll be sure not to irritate the patrons if we can help it." Delta replied politely before looking around at the people in the tavern.
"Of course. Thanks again for letting us crash here," Aesir replied with a smile.
They started off towards one of the tables and began to quietly ask around for tips. Castor was much less subtle and less tactful. He sat next to an old man and started asking questions. The man was clearly irritated and eventually asked Castor to leave. He took a deep breath, apologized, and went to bother someone else.
Finn and Delta parted ways to ask around as well. Delta wrote down anything they deemed important, trying to piece together a physical description of the beast or beasts. Finn relayed information from his informants to them so they could get as much down as possible. Once they were relatively certain they had talked to as many people in the tavern as possible, they met back up with Castor and Aesir.