First Steps IV

[Arvid Sawyer]

"All I'm saying is that it could happen," he argued, rolling his eyes. "It's an alchemist, he should have some appreciation for the crafts, right?"

"There's a difference between that and giving you free materials, V," Saul pointed out, making him sigh. Yes, he knew that, but a man could hope, right? "I like your optimism though."

"Do you?" Arvid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"If it gets you to shut up," his friends answered with a shrug, making him sigh again. Then he grinned at Saul.

"If only you were so lucky, right?" he told him, making his friend deflate. "Yeah, no. Do you think it'll be more difficult than it says on the job flier? Free Jobs have a chance of being like that, right?"

"Well, no one has come to report the mission being harder than what it looks, but that could be because not enough time has passed," Saul theorized, tilting his head as he thought that over. "For the same reason, people probably haven't had time to try it and get it done if it's easy."

"So, no way to know," Arvid summarized with a nod. He'd known that, more or less, but he didn't want to give his friend the silence he wanted, so he needed to talk about stuff. Besides, it always paid to have a second opinion on things, just in case. No way to know if others might pick up on something one didn't.

"Nope," Saul answered with a sigh. "Man, why does this place have to be so far away? We have been walking since forever!"

"Fifteen minutes at most, man," Arvid pointed out with a sigh. "And look at the bright side, the place has plenty of shops nearby. Maybe you can find a place you like close by. Somewhere to get magazines, for example."

"It's more of a craftsmen spot and you know it, V."

"Ok, so no to the magazines, probably. Surely you'll find something else while I clean whatever mess the alchemist made," he commented, running his fingers through his hair. "Providing I can, but how difficult could it be? Either the lava wand or the acid one should work, right?" he asked, because he was kind of worried that neither would work. "Do you think those might be too much?" he added, because that was another concern. Sure, the lava wand could probably burn whatever it was that the alchemist had created, but there was a chance of it working too well. Same with the acid, really.

Then again, the acid wand had much better control than the lava one, so maybe that'd work better?

"I don't think anyone would be too happy if you use any of those things inside their home," Saul answered with a shrug.

"Thanks for the reassurance," Arvid mumbled to himself, placing his hands inside his pockets. It was going to be fine. And if not, he'd just have to pick up another job. Hell, maybe then Saul would just go and relax at the hotel while he worked to fix his fuck up.

Now he was almost wishing he wouldn't be able to give it a try with his wands.

Ultimately, whether that was the case or not would remain to be seen. Arvid could only ponder on the possibilities in the meantime, while they made their way through Sharon towards their destination. 'I guess it's nice to do this anyway. Will be interesting to see how different being independent is from being in a Guild, if nothing else,' he mused to himself.

That, and he lamented the fact that he couldn't annoy Saul with more idle chatter.

Maybe some other time.

"This is the place, pretty sure," he said eventually, standing in front of a potion's shop and looking at the job flier they'd gotten at the outpost. Sure enough, the address was right and that was the only alchemist place around anyway. "On with it, I guess," he added, looking at Saul before moving through the door.

"Welcome. How can I help you?" the man behind the counter greeted them with a professional smile that his father could never have pulled off. Sawyers weren't known for being great sellers, but their quality work made up for that, at least in Wintergreen. That didn't quite work for people in bigger places though, Arvid had learned, which was why they had to add extra stuff like being friendly.

Even that was interesting to see for him.

"Hello, I'm Arvid Sawyer and this is Saulus Lambent," he introduced himself and his friend – who only waved his hand lazily to the alchemist–, plastering his own smile on his face. He didn't even have to fake it, really. He was kind of excited to do mage work, even if it was nothing all that special. "We are here for a job that was placed at the Rune Knight Outpost," he said, making the man's eyes widen in realization.

"Truly? I was wondering when someone would pick it up!" the man replied, showing a much more honest smile on his face. A relieved one too, Arvid noted while the man looked at his own job flier and the note that was attached to it saying that they had taken the mission and a few other things. "Fantastic! I'm Brett Wilkins. If you'd follow me, my workshop is over here at the back," the man, who seemed to also be the alchemist that had set up the job, told them, gesturing towards one of the two doors at the back of the store.

"Sooo, what is the catch?" Saul asked as they walked through the small passage behind the door, the wooden infrastructure of the shop changing to what looked solid stone. Arvid imagined it made some sense when you were dealing with dangerous and possibly explodey substances. "The quest said that you made a mess and now you couldn't clean it up. How did that happen?"

"I was trying new mixes. It's nothing new, but for whatever reason, the reaction was especially bad this time. The potion exploded and… Well, you can see it for yourselves," Brett told them, gesturing towards the sight in front of them and what a sight it was. The workshop was not small by any means, about the same size as the front shop, with rows of ingredients in jars, boxes or baskets on one side and a long table with cauldrons, vials and other equipment on the other.

That last part was where the disaster seemed to have occurred. Half the working station was covered in a frankly disgusting green gel-like substance that clung to everything. He could only blink at that.

"It doesn't look like much, but no matter what I do, it doesn't go away," the alchemist told them, sounding both frustrated and desperate at the same time. "Even when I manage to clean off a part of it, which is already hard, it seems to come back soon enough."

"So, it wasn't that you were being lazy and didn't want to clean something gross yourself?" Saul asked. The alchemist turned to his friend and shook his head with a confused expression. That made Saul pout and Arvid grin as his friend handed him a 100 Jewel note in his extended hand.

Perhaps he should feel a bit bad about betting with Saul after he himself lost all their money, but he couldn't resist.

"Ok, so…" Arvid mused, stepping towards the mess and crouching to take a better look at it. It didn't look any different up close, so he clicked his tongue. If Brett wasn't lying, then it was useless to try anything other than what he'd planned. "I have two options for this, but neither is… Well, particularly good for your work station, I'll admit. I have a wand that will heat up anything it touches. It can melt stone. And I have another that lets me create and control acid."

"I… would rather avoid uncontrolled fire in my workshop. Many of the fumes and substances in here are quite volatile after all… So, I guess acid will have to do?" the alchemist replied, unsure. He must have been quite desperate if he was just… going to go with that. Arvid had thought that the guy would at least try to convince them to try something else or ask questions or… Something.

Then again, this was an alchemist whose workshop was basically unusable. He couldn't make anything if his station was like that, which in turn meant that he couldn't make stuff to sell anymore unless he set up a new workshop, temporary or not. That by itself would eat at whatever savings he might have so…

Yeah, Arvid could kind of see why he just went with the acid.

"Sure thing. You are the boss," Arvid said, taking a deep breath in and pulling out the Acid Wand. He really hoped it worked, because if it didn't, then he'd be using a wand for nothing and that'd suck. 'I really need to make one that will last,' he thought, pursing his lips.

Standing some distance away, he channeled his magic through the wand and it immediately spit out a yellowish green liquid from the tip. Waving his magical focus, Arvid controlled the acid, moving it towards the middle of the green substance. It was better to start from there instead of risking damaging more of the workstation than he needed to.

However, when the acid touched whatever that thing was, there was a loud hissing sound. That, by itself, wasn't so unexpected. What was unexpected was that the green substance moved.

As soon as whatever that was came into contact with the yellow liquid, it pulled back from all around, making him take a step back with wide eyes. Arvid was fairly sure stains didn't do that, and it seemed he wasn't alone in his opinion as Brett screeched and jumped like a startled cat. Saul for his part… Saul looked about the same, honestly. The only thing that even showed he was paying attention was his eyebrows raising slightly and a slow blink of stupefaction.

Arvid centered his attention on the thing that even now continued to writhe and contort itself. What looked like green tentacles moved around in erratic yet slow movements, trying to touch the center area of the conglomerated blob and trying to get rid of the acid that consumed it. Only for the tentacles themselves to start sizzling themselves.

Whatever it was, it clearly didn't feel pain, and also wasn't very smart, given that it's only answer for the setback was to create more tentacles and try the exact same thing again and again. It didn't take long before the whole green blob was covered in the acid and evaporating rapidly, while Arvid continued to control his own yellow liquid to fight… Whatever that was. Green fumes escaped it as it lost portions of its mass by the second. The smell was nauseating, however, making Arvid crinkle his nose in disgust and try to cover it with the arm that wasn't holding his wand.

"Well, that was… kind of lame… and really gross to look at, too," Saul drawled with what Arvid noticed, was a hint of disappointment on his normally apathetic friend. They watched the last of the blob lose its consistency and become a more liquid and sizzling puddle on the floor. This time, it didn't move. "What the hell was that?" his friend asked as he turned towards the alchemist.

"I… have no idea," Brett answered, looking properly dumbfounded. The man was staring at the spot where the stain – creature? – had been as if he were still trying to wrap his head around what he'd seen. "I… Um, thank you?" the man added then, sounding and looking a little out of it.

"No problem, man. Now, about that payment?" Saul replied, going straight to the point. "We clearly killed a dangerous beast, so how much extra were you thinking?"

Arvid, for his part, was left lamenting the fact that whatever that had been hadn't left anything for him to use. Maybe he could have made a wand with materials from that? Looking down, he saw the acid wand melting in his hand. Harmlessly, but still. He groaned and deflated in disappointment.

The city of Sharon just didn't like him, he supposed.

Then his brain caught on to what Saul had said and turned to stare intently at the alchemist.

"We could settle this with materials too, I happen to be a crafter," he added, grinning at Brett while the man looked between Saul and him. His friend had the best ideas sometimes.

[}-o-{]

[Saulus Lambent]

"So, we are in agreement?" the alchemist asked and Arvid was quick to shake his hand.

The two had been talking back and forth and half of what they said had flown over Saul's head, quite honestly. Craftsman speech wasn't quite his thing… yet. He imagined being around Arvid would end up with him learning a thing or two… Even if it was against his will.

The sofa was quite comfy, at least.

He had honestly gotten tired of the walking and all the hard work to clean the substance-monster whatever. True, he didn't do anything, but he had to stay standing during the whole ordeal because the alchemist didn't have a chair in his workshop. How could he not even have a chair there? Did he stay standing the whole time while working? A madman, he had to be.

Either way, he didn't want to wait for the two geeks to finish their nerd talk standing at the very least. So, Saul took the rather comfy sofa resting at the side of the alchemist's – whose name he couldn't quite remember – study. At least he had good taste in furniture when the guy deigned to place them in a room, he supposed.

It wasn't like it was important to know who the guy was anyway, after that conversation was over they would probably never see the alchemist again in their lives. So it was a moot point in the end. The job was over and all that was left was to hash out the payment and the extras for dealing with a monster thingy when all they were asked to do was a glorified cleaning job. He was still wondering how that had happened, but at least the job hadn't been harder, really.

At first, Saulus wanted to ask for double the amount, stating that it had been hazard pay. Alas, he made the grave mistake of deciding to take the conversation out of the horribly smelling stone workshop. The nauseating pool of gunk that had been left from the monster thingy, seemed to defy all logic and continue to escalate on its horrid smell.

There was a unanimous agreement to move the whole conversation back to the front of the shop and into the alchemist study. Said man continued to sweat as he glanced at him and his totally innocent and pleasant smile for some reason. As soon as they got to the cash cow's study, Arvid's eyes started shining like stars looking at the vast collection of books the alchemist had. It was at that moment that he realized he was not going to get any extra money out of this.

He didn't get the man to cough a single extra Jewell before both, the alchemist and Arvid, hit it up and started talking about some weird roots and stones that were on display around the room. It soon devolved into book sessions as both of them went through tome after tome of alchemy materials, or something like that. Saul had already lost interest by that point.

So instead of fighting a lost battle, he decided to sit himself on the comfy red sofa, and occasionally poke the boney cheeks of some embalmed lizard creature that was at arms reach from him. He wished he could have at least had something to read around here that didn't threaten to make him fall into a boredom-induced coma.

It didn't help that the mission itself had left him feeling quite conflicted.

On one hand, the mission was over. They had completed it and earned themselves some extras for an excellent job, even though it wasn't money. All at the cost of a fifteen minute walk, and a single spell.

If anything it proved the fact that Free Jobs were as unreliable as advertised. One never knew if what one took would be far beyond your capabilities in difficulty, or the complete opposite as was the case for them at the moment. He should be honestly happy that nothing bad happened and their contractor was more than willing to pay…

Yet, he couldn't feel himself partially cheated.

Was this truly it? All there was to their first real quest and adventure?

He knew that, at the beginning of this, he had been incredibly reluctant to join Arvid in his admittedly crazy adventure. Even to this very day he still believed that they should just turn around and go back home. They could just take the money from their easy mission and be back to Wintergreen in a few days for some of Miko's food… after, most likely, a beatdown for turning back like that, of course.

Yet, a tiny part of him whispered to him.

A part of him that Saulus thought he had managed to kill years ago, when he finally managed to focus himself on being content with what he had left. It had been much better than fretting over delusions that would never come to pass. Dreams belonged with people that were sleeping, after all.

Then Arvid's crazy plan happened and those daydreams came back to him on occasion.

Maybe something would come out of the whole trip, Saulus had thought against his better judgment. There was the traveling itself, which was nice. He'd seen much more than Wintergreen and being in that tiny village for so long made him feel… a little cooped up, he supposed.

Then there was the… adventure too, in a way. There'd been that little pseudo-job with the merchant whose name he'd already forgotten. There'd been the fight with the Jagras, short and underwhelming as it was. There'd been Arvid getting robbed and… And then… this?

If he'd thought the Jagras fight was bad, it didn't hold a candle to this job.

Saulus felt so very cheated at that moment. And he hated that he felt cheated when he shouldn't have been expecting anything in the first place… 'God, Arvid is contagious,' he thought with a groan, dragging a hand over his face.

"Hey, Saul, you awake?" his friend called, making him turn towards Arvid. "We are done here."

"Was about time… That took like three times as much as the actual mission did," he snarked, but there was no bite to it. He just wanted to go report the quest and complete it and then go to sleep. They now had enough money to pay the hotel for at least a week and some money left over for food, so he wanted to enjoy it.

Who said that being a mage didn't pay well?

"And I'm sure you had a nice nap in the meantime. Let's go get our actual pay, yeah?" Arvid asked him, looking almost as excited as he had before they left in their journey, a book under his arm. "I can't wait to start reading this."

"And pray to tell what that is? More geek stuff?" he asked, if only to continue the conversation while he rose from his seat and walked towards the exit door. Arvid and the alchemist waved enthusiastically to each other as they left the place.

"A book that details the reactions of certain magical materials with others and how that can be predicted by…" Arvid trailed off then, closing his mouth and chuckling. "Yeah, more geek stuff."

"Figures. Now let's go. You can nerd it out back at the hotel. I want to go get our actual money."

Saulus just wanted to get this whole thing over with.

[}-o-{]

"-No, I get that you wanted a book too. I am not questioning that," Arvid said, intoning his words slowly as if he were talking with a pretty slow child. One of his hands massaged his forehead as his book rested next to him on top of his bed. "What I'm asking is why that book in particular?"

"It is a decent piece of fiction that I wanted to read. Why wouldn't I buy it?" He said, playing innocent. "What is wrong with it?"

"Saul, it's smut. Trashy smut at that." Arvid drawled.

"How would you know that?" He smartly retorted. To that, Arvid deadpanned and rose himself from his bed, took the book from him, and turned it for Saul to see the cover. The very explicit cover of a naked woman, her intimates were barely covered by a pair of arms that hugged her from behind, but still leaving very little to anyone's imagination.

"I don't see what you are getting at." That was his alibi and he would stick to it.

"Cover doesn't leave anything up to misunderstandings, man," Arvid commented before grimacing. "And Mrs. Greer was really into that series too. I know more than I'd ever want to about it… and Mrs. Greer."

A shudder ran through Saul at the mention of the aging single lady who was friends with his mother. That woman was not okay in the head. He usually escaped as far as he could every time he was ordered to visit her. Still, if this were the reactions he would have gotten from Arvid, sitting through that hell might have been worth it. Up until this day, he still didn't understand where she got the money to feed so many cats…

He would admit, in his head, that he only bought that book just to embarrass Arvid. The man insisted on buying him a gift with the earned money. His treat, he'd said, for being the one that messed up in the first place.

Saul, naturally, as any best friend would, made sure to milk that for everything it was worth. Arvid's tomato face as he handed the cash to the equally blushing young cashier girl, would be one of his fondest memories for years to come. Saul hadn't been done with that though, deciding to read the book out loud all the way back to the hotel.

"Sometimes you make me wonder why I'm friends with you, man," Arvid said, shaking his head and sighing. Saul caught the smile on his face though, even if he didn't point it out.

"Must be my charisma and overall pleasant personality," he said.

"You are right," Arvid said with a nod, making him blink. "It's obviously because Miko forced me to."

Saulus eye twitched at that, earning a smirk from Arvid as went back to trying to continue reading his material meta-whatchamacallit alchemy book.

He wouldn't let that stand.

"Ahem, -The warmth of his hands seared their way through her waist as the rugged lumberman pinned her against the wall-," he continued reading as Arvid groaned and cringed. The sound was music to his ears. "Man, this author really knows how to write her stuff." Saul turned the book around to see the back cover. He spotted the author there, not the actual name, just an alias. 'Princess Connect?' He never heard of her. He would make sure to invite her for a drink if he ever met her.

"How many souls do I have to sacrifice for you to stop reading that crap?" Arvid asked, looking like a man who had given up hope already but kept trying anyway. "I know you don't like that shit. Is this because I got robbed? I apologized for that, man. I even made up for it."

"Oh no, no no no," Saul said quickly because that misunderstanding couldn't happen. "I'm doing this for my own amusement," he corrected, a grin on his face.

Arvid could only groan again. Such a beautiful sound, truly.

Yeah, he was feeling a lot better already.

[} Chapter End {]

Arc: Have you guys ever suffered from success? Because that is exactly what happened here. As you might know, we roll a lot during parts of our stories to add a bit of randomness and keep us on our toes.

Adrian: All was going well during the job rolls for difficulty and such but then… Then Arvid rolled pretty high for the fight with the stain and… Well, it ended up being what it is. Underwhelming, but not every job can be an epic adventure, I guess.

Arc: I guess we shouldn't look a gifted horse in the mouth and all that, Saul seems to be doing just that. If we count our blessings, our money problems have been pushed for later and nobody got hurt. Our boys have now funds to continue forward once again.

Adrian: With that said, we hope you enjoyed the chapter and the – admittedly underwhelming – job.

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