The group had found only one quest that needed a delivery to the port town of Merkadia. The delivery involved guarding several carts loaded with ore from the mines that were headed to the blacksmith's guild in Merkadia. The group decided against the mission since it would probably take the wagons several days, if not a week, to reach the port town and being that close to a group of people for that long increased the chances that someone would notice something peculiar about their group and start to ask questions Garrett wasn't prepared to answer. With nothing else holding them here they headed out on their way to the port town of Merkadia. The group headed outside of the massive cavern, back through the small town at the foot of the mountain and took the southwest road leading to Merkadia.
The two-day trip was rather uneventful with only a few horned rabbits seen in the fields and the howls of a few wolves rung out from the nearby woods during the night. Considering they had been told it was a major hub of commerce for the region they had expected the town of Merkadia to be a sprawling city like Lakefall, but it looked rather small as the group walked up a small rise toward the largely ceremonial gate in the wooden wall that surrounded the town. Two guards wearing basic leather armor and holding spears stood to either side. A look of utter boredom clearly seen on their faces as they hardly spared a glance to the few groups of people going through the gates. While the town was rather small, all the buildings had been made of solid stone to cope with the salt that wafted on the breeze.
The group headed through the gate and followed the directions that Nyathanial had given them to find the local Adventurers guild hall. It didn't take them long to find the large building that served as both the local guild hall and tavern for the locals. Made of the same white stone as the rest of the buildings in the town the guild hall was two stories tall and could have fit several of the surrounding houses inside it with room to spare. They were assaulted by the loud sounds of the tavern as they entered through the two solid wooden doors that had been carved to have the stylized 'A' of the adventurer's guild across them. Some of the patrons at tables closer to the door hushed in their conversations and turned to look at the newcomers before turning away. The layout was similar to the guild hall in the dwarven mining town, the actual bar was along the back wall with a couple of doors that would lead to either storage rooms or upstairs to the rooms that could be rented, there was a small stage near the center of one of the side walls were bards and entertainers would perform, and tables filled the rest of the floor.
Garrett wove through tables and chairs and approached the bar with his friends to get the attention of one of the bartenders. A rather burly human woman came over and greeted the group. "Well, what kind I get for you folks?" She said on a brusque manner. Her voice had an odd lilting quality to it while maintaining a pitch higher than one would expect. "The bream is fresh from this morning, and you won't find a bigger selection of ales from the far reaches of the realms."
"We're not hungry but thanks." Garrett replied. "We actually just arrived from the mining town, and we were looking for any quests that involved heading to a different port town."
"Ah, you want to see what the world holds besides dirt and rocks." She said with a smile. "There are always merchants looking for guards to protect their ships from pirates and sea creatures." She pointed to the wall just past the bar that was covered in scraps of paper Garrett recognized as the request slips used for quests. "If none of those float your fancy you could just pay for passage down the coast and try at the next port, or you could just wait a day or two to see what comes in."
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"Thanks." Garrett replied. "Is there a dungeon around here we could dive if we decide to wait?" Garrett figured he might as well ask if he is trying to pass as an eager young adventurer.
The bartender hesitated as she wondered how skilled Garrett and his group were if they had left the dwarven city, which had a very well known dungeon that was great for all but the most powerful of adventurers, but she could understand that young people would get bored of the same old dungeon runs after a while. "There is one dungeon, but it is of the coast a bit and is completely submerged throughout. Unless you have some way of breathing underwater then I would stay away from there."
"There are skills that let you breath underwater?" Garrett asked incredulously.
"Of course there are." Blixie chimed in. "But they are limited to those with air or water affinity, not earth like you. Sorry."
Garrett was confused why Blixie said her couldn't get that skill since he could, in theory, use all the elements, but then remembered he was posing as a monster tamer with the earth element. "Damn." He sighed. "That would have been really cool to go through. I guess we will just check out it the requests to see if there is anything that sounds interesting."
"Of course." The bar tender said. "If you find one that interests you just bring it to the bar and one of us can add it to your guild card." With that she turned and left to help another patron that had walked up.
The group walked over to the request slips and looked them over. There were several quests that required hauling fruits and other goods back to the dwarven city in the cave, a request to transport some farm implements to the small farming village between here and Lakefall, and even a couple of quests to take silks and other clothing materials to Lakefall. Most of the quests involved hunting the local wildlife, gathering herbs, or working on various ships as guards or deck hands. Garrett noticed that all the quests involving ships mentioned whether they crossed the deep ocean waters or stayed along the shallower coastal waters. Out of curiosity he asked if Blixie knew why they did that.
"Well the deeper waters hold stronger monsters so stronger adventures would be needed." She replied. "It wouldn't do to have an entire ship destroyed because you hired only low rank adventures to cross the sea."
Garrett turned back around to continue looking through the quests. After a few minutes he finds one that seems to draw his attention. The request is to guard a small ship as it delivers grains to several small fishing villages along the coast and ending up at a larger port town in the south with fish picked up at the villages. Garrett pulled the slip off the wall and head back to the bar. The bartender that he had spoken to previously walked up to him.
"Find something that piqued your interest I see." She said noticing the slip in Garrett's hand. She pulled out the crystal ball that Garrett had become accustomed to seeing as she took the slip of paper from Garrett. "Delivering grain with old Lou." She chuckled as she read the paper. "Can be a bit grumpy most days but he's a good sort. Should be a pretty easy quest and good for enjoying the scenery."
Garrett handed her his guild card and watched as she loaded the quest into it. "Thanks. We could also use a room for the night since the quest says to meet him in the morning."
"Of course. Would you like any dinner or breakfast for you and your friends?" She asked as she looked behind him.
Garrett shook his head. "I'm good and these two are actually my tamed monsters so they don't really eat standard food."
"Huh, you don't really see monster tamers anymore." She replied with a grunt. "Normally I would charge two silvers for a room which would include dinner and breakfast, but if you don't want them, I'll just charge you a silver." Garrett took his guild card back from her outstretched hand and put it away as he pulled out a silver coin and handed it to her. She handed him a key in return. "Up the stairs, second door on the left."
Garrett thanked her and the group headed up to their room to wait out the night.
