Xaltwind

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

At the Adventurers' Guild, Druid Girl arrived a bit more pep in her step than she might ought to have had, given the news she brought. The familiar glasses-wearing Guild Girl welcomed her back once the caramel-skinned lass reached the desk, asking how her team's quest had gone. After a bit of pleasantries, Druid Girl handed over the porcelain tags that Big Red has tossed her right before they split up, relaying the news about three of the missing four adventurers having fallen, and one having been alive, but broken.... This alarming news forced the Guild Girl to bring the druid into a side-room, where she along with a Seeker asked a bunch of questions.

It was a bit ardeous and a bit unpleasant to recollect and talk about everything that happened, but it was necessary. After a bit of inquisitioning, the three in the room sighed and let a somber mood fall over the office, before Druid Girl was finally released back into the guild hall proper. Of course, she was handed the other half of the payment for escorting the farmer, as well as the reward for clearing the gobklins and the bonus for locating the missing party of adventurers. She felt a bit guilty taking money for just reporting that three people had died and one was a mentally shattered vegetable, but it was all part of the job-description... So, she accepted the money, albeit having lost most of her upbeat spirit by now.

Glancing over at the board, it seemed most of the today's quests had already been snatched up. Only a few silver-rank and bottom-feeder porcelain-rank jobs were left. And while she was sure Big Red would've grabbed the postings, she didn't feel like running around in the sewers, chasing after giant roaches right now.

Once Steppe Archer arrived, the Druid meandered her way over to the nomad, greeting her friend with a smile. Having already counted and split the money, she handed over the huntress' share of the reward with no if's, and's or but's. After which, she suggested they go somewhere to eat. Preferbly somewhere you could sit outside in the sunny weather.

Once Big Red arrived as well, she proceeded to greet and give him his share of money as well. And again the repeat the prospect of eating.

"There's a nice bakery that makes great bread not too far from here. Ooh, and a tavern where they have some yummy beef-skewers! I've also seen a street-vendor who sells a bunch of fresh fruits over at the market square." She began listing off a number of locatin which all, ultimately, had foods as their main commodity. "Oh, wait... You wanted to sell the stuff we found first, right?" She tehn added, as an after-thought, while looking over at the lizardman. "We could always do that first but-"

OoOOOOOOOOoOoOOooOohhhhh!!

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

"Hm? Whyssat? There somethin' wrong with the way I talk?" Brandy asked, raising an eyebrow and cocking her head sideways inquisitvely. It didn't seem she was offended by the remark, more just curious about why. Her attention was soon diverted away though, as her head turned to look behind the pair, and she spotted Alice's wagging tail. A merry laguh leapt out of her mouth and she squeeze Alice's arm tighter to herself. "Maa-haa-haa~ That's 'totes adorbs!"

It didn't take too long to navigate through the outer parts of the town. Soon enough, the girls found themselves walking up a neat and tidy small brick-laiden walkway, leading up to one of the larger, and rarer, two-storey buildings in the village. Unlike many of the other structures around, this one actually sported both a tiled roof and proper glass windows. In fact, the whole place looked a bit too swanky to be part of this rural hamlet, but here it was nontheless.

There was a low fence surrounding the home, clearly sectioning off the property as to ward of unwanted trespassers, or those careless enough to trample onto someone else's yard. Several small bushes and carefully arranged flowerbeds adorned the property, along with a small, private well and a ceramic bird-bath. There was no gate to bar entry though, so getting up to the front door was hassle-free. Once they were a few feet away, Brandy let go off Alice's arm and bounded up to the door, easily ascending the small wooden staircase infront of it and then, with an unceremoniously loud series of bangs, pounded on the door with her fist.

"Hey! Elm-lady! We're here to walk yer pupper!" The satyress half-shouted.

It didn't take too long before the door opened slowly, and a rather wrinkled, rather glasses-sporting and rather annoyed-looking older madame stepped out of it. Matte, reddish-brown hair and a scowl that looked like it'd been permanently carved into her face, she wore a simple, but nontheless decently fashionable, dress in a maroon color. She eyed the two girls. First the busty, half-naked satyr who was swaying back and forth on her hooved feet, then at the werewolf. She didn't say anything for a bit. A rather long bit actually.

Then she went back inside.

And closed the door.

...

...

...

"Uhm... Did she go back in to get her dog or what?" Brandy asked, looking quite cluelessly at Alice.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

At the sound of Big Red's laughter, Druid Girl felt more and more like she wanted to sink through the floor of the barn and disappear. That is, until the big lug threw her a piece of dried jerky. Like an excited squirrel, the girl almost leapt into the air and caught the tiny preserved morsel, and then just like her fellow female companion, tore into it like as if she hadn't eaten for days on end. Within mere moments the piece of dry meat was gone, and Druid girl was sitting on her knees, with a content and happy smile on her face.

"That really was delicious." She added onto Steppe Archer's comment about the, honestly, really bland and unimpressive food.

It didn't take long for Big Red to stir and go about business, bringing back a bucket for the girls to wash themselves off with. The druid patiently waited for her turn, letting her archer-friend go at it first. After waving the other lass off, as the huntress ran to thank the farmer - for whatever reason - the raven-haired girl proceeded to wash herself. It wasn't a full bath, but at least her hands, face and other important bits got a rinse. She also used a small rag to wipe down the still-sleeping red-head. Careful and gently, as if she was wiping a brittle glass figurine... Which might not have been too far froma realistic comparison.

The farmer, over at his rustic home, wasn't in any better a mood since yesterday. He had small bags under his eyes and was busy making breakfast - which he clearly informed Steppe Archer was for him and that there weren't enough to feed free-loaders. Even when thanked for his hospitality the man waved the jnomad off, saying they should get going and not waaste time here anymore. Obviously he was in no desire to have distractions on his farm that didn't pitch in and make his daily chores easier.

When all was said and done, everyone had gathered their things and made sure they were ready, the party gathered at the entrance of the farmstead. Big Red had once again been assigned to carry the catatonic victim of gobs, and Steppe Archer was made to lead the way, on account of her expertise with noticing subtle movements and such in brush and foliage. The druid would walk leisurely alongside the lizardman, checking to see how their luggage was doing every so often, while trying to hold a conversation with the stoic and pragmatic reptilian man.. Sadly, he didn't seem to be the type who was interested in the plumage of small birds, the distribution of flowers or the particular mating-haqbits of field mice... He was far more interested in plucking feathers of said small birds, ripping up any useful flowers and eating mice as snacks... Or so the druid got the impression, at least...

Their journey back to Palisade Town was long and uneventful, and while the trip from the sttlement to the farm had been on a slow-moving carriage, at least the girls hadn't had to walk all the distance themselves. They also hadn't had to carry a sleeping, maimed, half-dead adventurer along with them. As such, the pace to return home was notablyt slower, but slow and steady wins the race, and eventually they could make out the outlines of the tall, spiked walls that surrounded their impromptu home. Druid Girl let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness nothing tried to jump out and ambush us." She stated cheerfully. A line like this was often cause for comedic timing, or the way to raise a death-flag, but fortunately it seemed fate was kind enough to forgive such a slip of the tongue, this time. "We should hurry back to town. RRed, can you take the girl and drop her off at the temple? I'll go and report to the guild about what happened with the farmer, cave and.... The... Others in her group..." her words trailed off and she got a downcast, somewhat sad look to her face.

But, then the girl brightened up after shaking her head. A sunny smile and sheen to her eyes. She let out a small laugh as she ran ahead of the other two, turning her head backwards and waving at them to hurry up.

"C'mon! Let's go, you two! If we hurry, we can be back before noon ends! Lunch~ Lunch~ Lunch~ Luuuuunch~" The girl half-yelled, and then sang, her motives becoming obviously clear as to why she desired to hurry.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

"Hey!" Brandy let out a plaintive objection at the werewolf's mention of the satyress' inability to read, but was quickly silenced as the receptionist proceeded to answer Alice's question with a smile.
"Why yes, there's no problem with you going along and helping her. Although, if you don't register that both of you are actually doing the quest, only Miss Vanillarin would get any pay for completing this job."
"What the what!? Hold on, sister! You tellin' me that she won't get paid, even if she shows me around and helps out, just 'cuz she didn't scribble her name on some... paper?"
"That's right. After all, the guild can't pay who aren't contracted to complete a job."
"Fine! Then sign her up for the dog-walkin' too!"
"Umm... Miss Vanillarin, the sum of money this job is paying isn't ver-"
"Sign! Her! Up! We're goin' splitsies on this and that's that, alright?" It seemed Brandy was adamant and unwilling to yield on this point, which made Karin both sigh and smile at the same time.
"Fine, fine... I'll put both of you down for this job then. Please head over to the Elmswood residence, okay?"
"Gotcha! Let's go, girl!" Brandy exclaimed, excitedly, while latching onto Alice's arm and pulling her along vigorously, not at all seeming to notice the werewolf's arm pressing against her ample, and rather exposed, chest as she did so.

Litroot wasn't exactly a big village, but it wasn't necessarily small either. The more central houses were a bit smaller and more tightly packed, while the further out you got, the bigger and more spacious the buildings got. Navigating the roads were easy for ALice, since she'd been here awhile, but Brandy on the other hand stopped frequently and peeked into alleys, over fences, into peoples' backyards and even stuck her head in through an open window once, or thrice... Resulting in a very upset housewife yelling at the two girls for obvious reasons...

Brandy would also frequently leap onto barrels, carts and even stacks of hay, looking around with a big old grin on her face, going 'Oooh!' and 'Aaahh!', as if exploring some foreign, alien land that had never been seen before. Though once she felt finished doing so, she bounded off wherever she stood and bounced right on back to Alice's side, latching onto the werewolf's arm again... Either because she wanted to be physically close to, or not get seperated from, the other girl.

"So, like, what's this Elmswood-person like? You've been here for a bit, yeah? What's their pooch like? You two buddies or something? Thanks for coming along too! I mean, I coulda 'totes handled it on my own, but doing stuff together is more fun, yeah?" She was very excited it would seem, as she beamed with energy and her eyes sparkled with sunny vibrance.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

With everyone having settled in and found a place to lay their heads, Druid Girl would proceed to stay close by the surviving girl's side. The smell in the barn was nostalgic, reminding her of her own home, and in any other circumstance she wouldn't have had any trouble falling asleep. Alas, her's was a bleeding heart, and she couldn't quite stomach the idea of falling asleep peacefully while this other poor soul lay in a state of catatonic shock with who-knows-what-kind of nightmares and trauma swirling around behind those blank, unblinking eyes. As such, she opted to rest next to the red-head, resting but not fully sleeping, keeping an eye on the girl and making sure she was breathing fine and not suddenly going into fits or otherwise... Which she luckily didn't.

Although the raven-haired youth had wanted to do something, in reality there wasn't much she could do for the goblin-victim. She possessed no strong healing spells, nor the ability to ease mental or emotional trauma. She could certainly brew a tea to calm nerves and make someone relax, but the state this girl was in was well beyond the means of curing with a simple pot of herbal tea. She needed actual, professional and skilled help - and that kind of help only existed at hospitices and temples. So for now, the best they could do was just to keep the poor thing safe until they got back to town and could leave her at one of such places.

The night passed uneventfully, with no noise nor commotion, except for the occasional snoring cow and/or bit of sputtering from the old mare. Morning came eventually, and as the moons set beyond the horizon and the sun began to shine across from the other side of the world, the farm's head-rooster let out a loud and clear cuckaoodle-doo, letting all be aware that the day had come... Several times... Repeatedly... Like, seriously, that was one repetetive clucker... He just wouldn't shut up...

Having only half-slept through the night, Druid Girl let out a loud, unsightly yawn as she stretched her arms into the air and groaned like a cat that'd just woken from a pleasant nap. As she looked over to the side, she was astounded to find that the red-head had actually closed her eyes, and was now asleep... Perhaps fatigue had finally caught up with the poor dear? Or perhaps she was just too exhausted, both physically and mentally, to stay conscious for any longer? Regardless, the fact that she was asleep was a good thing. It eant that she at least would be able to recover, in some small way. A relieved smile lingered on the dark skined girl, as she gently stroked the victimized maiden's head. She then looked over to Big Red and Steppe Archer respectively.

"I think we should just get some water from the well and be on our way. I doubt the farmer'll be willng to share any breakfast with u-"

OOoOOOOoOOOooOOOooOOoOOOoooOOoOOoOOOooohhhHHHHhHhhHHhh!!

The druid's eyes went wide and her cheeks flushed as brightly as a ripe tomato. The noise had come from her stomach, and had been loud enough to make even the drowsy animals in their pens turn their heads and look towards her in confusion. The girl sat there on the haypile, hands now covering her belly, with a mortified expression on her face, trying to avoid eye-contact with anyone and anything. It seemed Steppe Archer wasn't the only one feeling a bit peckish... Then again, they hadn't had any food since yesterday... And gven the gluttonous girl's voracious appetite, it was amazing she hadn't had a grumbling tummy earlier.

"... Uhm... So... Yeah... We... Should totally get ready to..."

OOoOOoOoOoOOoOooOOOoOOOoOOooOOOOoOOooOOOoohHHHHHHhhhHHhHHHhhh!!

Amazingly, her face apparently had the capacity of turning even more red. She was now also trying to hide said face by hugging her knees and covering her face with ther arms...

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

"Hmmmm~" The little satyress let out an overly drawn out sound, making her way over to the board where Alice stood. Standing next to the werewolf, she looked at the pieces of paper with scribbles on them. Just as the pooch had implied, the goat-girl couldn't read any of it, it might as well have been a child's playful scribbles to her eyes. Not that she'd ever admit to it - she could read just fine! Just not this... come-on that everyone kept going on about.

"Well, since I don't feel like deliverin' letters just yet, I just got to this town after all." She started. "And cleanin' chimneys... Eh... I don't wanna risk ruining my outfit, yeah?" Not that there was of an outfit to ruin though. "Walkin' a dog, huh? I like pups, they're 'toes adorbs~" She said, smiling brightly with twinkling eyes. "Dunno where that mill's supoposed to be, and hauling sacks of flour... I hauled sacks o' grain back on the farm, so no thanks." She dimissively waved her hand. "Killing a rabbit though...? Really? Like, a little bunny-rabbit? How hard could that possibly be! We caught those lil' rascals all the time back home when they tried eatin' our crops. Dad used to send 'em flying with one heckova throw." She laughed slightly in reminiscing. "But, yeah, I'd like to get to look around this place and get a feel for things, yeah? So I'm-a thinkin' I wanna take on that puppy-walking job. Which one is it?" Brandy asked, tilting her head, swaying back and forth, looking at the various notes.

At that point, the front door opened and in came a familiar face. The glasses-wearing tanuki receptionist had returned, and in a clean, immaculate and stylish suit no less! She inspected the desk and nodded approvingly at the decent-enough job that the girls had done. Not that she knew it was them, but she had an inkling. Sitting herself down, her large, plump tail flopped onto the floorboards with a soft thud and she began to sift through and shuffle papers around once again.

Apparently, the job for walking a dog, as Alice would notice, had been requested by a certain Elma Elmswood, noted to be living in the outer parts of the village. The reward was, as expected, a laughable pittance in terms of money and there was no specifciations of what type of dog was to be walked. Furthemore, there were specific instructions written down such as: Don't feed the dog, don't get the dog's fur dirty, don't let the dog go swimming, and a bunch of other nit-picky and demanding terms that seemed to elevate this pupper to the status of some championship-pedigree... Which was odd, considering they were in the middle of the sticks and boonies...

Karin looked up from her papers, after having stacked a neat pile next to herself, raising an eyebrow.

"Found anything interesting, you two?"

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Update: 20/10/27

• Karin Mofumofu has been updated. Voice Color Code-section added.
• Nimerescha Bavaloure has been updated. Voice Color Code-section added.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

After getting an earful of details about the various flavors of the potions, and it finally culmniating with an overly explanatory explanation of tea, where it was from and the potion's flavor, Bradny could do little else but snicker. This wolf-girl was all over the place and seemed so excited. She was just the kind of person that the little satyress had been hoping to run into. Sure, she loved her calm and docile family with all her heart, but they were just so... Stiff, and boring, at times. After having been led to the well, drawn some water and returned to the scene-of-the-crime, Brandy listened further as the pooch asked about her reasons for joining the Guild, while sitting mostly back, one leg crossed over the other, and watching the werewolf go to town on cleaning-duty.

"Weeeeell, it's nothing sappy or super-cheesy like avenging my murdered lover or being a run-a-way princess seeking to prove herself. Though I 'spose you could be forgiven for thinking that." She gave herself a once-over before going on. "In my case, I just wanted to see more of the world, and not spend my entire life plowing fields and being peeped on in the bath by my older brother." She stated, not realizing that what she'd just said may have caused some people to raise an eyebrow at the way it was worded."Don't get me wrong, I love the farm I grew up on and everything, it was really peaceful and nice, but it was sooooooo boriiiiiiiiing... Just chores, chores and more chores... Do this, do that, don't do that, don't do this, stop wearing that, stop leading the neighbour's son on, stop leading the neighbour's younger son on, yadda-yadda. Y'know? That kinda stuff. I just wanted to be able to go places, see people, try stuff out that didn't involve a hoe or seed. " She elaborated, while leaning back on a bench and putting both arms behind her head, staring with a daydreamy-kind-of-face into the ceiling for a bit.

Eventually though, she got off her fetching rump and, towards the end of it all, lent a hand with the cleaning. Between the two girls' efforts, the bloodstains were mostly removed and the reception retuyrned to a ... Presentable... state of existence. The rags were a bit discolored now and the water in their bucket looked less than sanitary, but the job had been dine and it had been ... Passably well! Huzzah!

"Well, that takes care of that. SO like, what do you do now? That tiny chick said something about there being stuff on a board...? I saw you run over to that slab o' wall over there, the one with the little paper-strips on it. That where ya pick up work here?" The satyr asked, tilting her head while pointing daintily at the quest billboard over by the front door. "So, how do you get started? Just pick something and do what the note tells ya?" She asked in addition.

Of course, there was a bit more beaurocracy involved than that. Having already finished a task herself, Alice would know the proper procedure of bringing the quest one wished to do up and over to the reception, having the receptionist verify who and how many were taking on the job and finally recording all the details in a registry, before one could finally set off on their quest. Of course, with Karin currently out an d missing, the only thing one could do with the billboard right now was give it a good stare-down and choose between the modestly meagre selection of available jobs...

... Whcih mostly invovled things like 'Clean my chimney', 'Go to the mill and get flour for our bakery', 'Walk my dog', 'Take this letter to Nutbrook' and, of course; 'Kill that infernal horned rabbit that keeps eating my vegetable patch'. So many glorious options to choose from! ... Naturally, Brandy couldn't read any of them, since her parents only taught her how tor ead and write in old minotaur script, which was only used in a very limited region of the world nowadaysw...

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

With the pyre finally all but gone, the embers put out by tail-sweeping, dirt-dumping and water splashing, there really wasn't anything left to do or say here at the mouth of the former goblin cave. Doing as the big lizard had wanted, Druid Girl picked up one of the still-in-decent-condition daggers and slid it into her- oh that's right she didn't have have belt or skirt on.... She fumbled with the sharp tool for a bit, before gently putting it into her pouch. If she was gonna keep this thing, she'd have to get a sheath or something for it once they got hback to town. That headache could wait for now though.

With the spunky archer leading their way, the group set off from the grove, heading back towards the farmstead in - more or less - the same fashion they'd come earlier. It was a bit harder to navigate and make out the goblin tracks down, one reason being the darkness and the other being the tracks being several hours old, and faded, by now. Still, with a bit of fenagling and a lot of determination, they eventually could make out the rustic structures of the farm in the dim light of the moons. Although Druid Girl wasn't exactly elated to be back here, this was the nearest, best place to let their rescued survivor get a proper good rest for now.

Fortunately, their trip back to her farm had been uneventful and uninterupted. No wild beasts had try to ambush them and no new goblins, or worse, had reared their ugly heads in any attempts at an ambush. Of course, the walk had been anyhting but jubilant, and mostly done in a quiet, unchatty and somber mood. Understandable, given the situation and time of day(night?).

Still, now that they were here, having just passed by the shoddy fencing that surrounded the place, the olny thing really left to worry about was dealing with the ornery and less-than-pleasant farmer. Apparoching the door of the farmhouse proper, Druid Girl would sigh and give the door a few, stern knocks - with the tip of her oak staff - to ensure the banging was loud enough to stir the man from his sleep. A minute passed, with no audible or visible reaction. She knocked again, this time harder. A noise was then heard, sounding like a muffled voice from within. The sound of somehting metallic being knocked over followed, shortly accompanied by loud cursing and foul language. Then, just as suddenly, the door flung open and out of the doorway steppeed the farmer... Completely void of clothes... Any clothes... Holding a small brass candlestick with a lit candle in one hand, and a fire-poker, the kind you used for fireplaces, in the other.

He squinted in the darkness, with a ... Less-than-intimidating-attempt at a mean-mug on his face... Before he realized and recognized just who was at his door. The arm holding the firepoker relaxed and fell down along his side and he let out a hissing, irritated wheeze.

"The hell're you folks doing 'ere at this hour?! I was sleepin' like a babe I was, had a good dream too."
"We've cleared out the goblins in the cave north of here." Druid Girl said. "We were hoping we could use your barn to sleep in, until morning."
"The hell's ya needin' to do that for? If'n them lil monsters be all dead, why don'cha just head on back to town? I already paid ya my share of the money!"
"The town's gates are locked at night, remember? Even if we went back, we couldn't get inside." The caramel-girl replied, sighing in exasperation.
"Bah... Fine, fine. Jus' don't spook the cows! And don't be makin' a mess. And don't even think 'bout takin' anything in there with ya! Them gobbers already stole more than enough of my stuff." He angrily warned and stated... Before looking over Druid Girl's shoulder and spotting Big Red, carrying the red-head. "Wha's this now? Ya went and fished yerself another girl? Don'cha have enough wives as is, big fella?" The middle-aged, leathery skinned man said, with a smarmy grin on his lips. He then looked at Druid Girl again, and then at Steppe Archer. "See you two decided to go with matchin' outfits. Can't say I'm a fan, I prefered yer other look better, missy." The man stated, rather bluntly, to the druid, who gave him no response in return.
"... Thank you, for letting us stay. Good night." She eventually replied, before turning around and heading off towards the barn.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Update: 20/10/20

• Nimerescha Bavaloure added to the Guild of Renta-Experts section. See Members: for more details.