Chapter 3: The Tour and the Elder

Kawn makes new friends and gets to know his surroundings.

 

            Kawn, Lonely Rose and Viper followed Nevets out of the port past an old man selling tickets to the various planets at a rickety table. “Tickets... get your interplanetary tickets here. Ships are porting every twenty minutes.” shouted the old man as another large ship that looked like a large snake stopped at the port to drop off passengers and pick up new ones.

            They followed a winding path that went past a woman who was sitting in an empty shop and a building that was a broken down beastiary with the owner lamenting his woes. “His beastiary was ravaged by rebels that broke open every cage and pen to release the monsters that he was using to train fighters.” said Nevets.

            “Curse Mather and his band of desperados.” shouted the old man shaking his fists in the air. Following the path to the left they soon approached a large arena with large statues around the entrance. There was a man standing out front leaning on a large sword. He appeared to be of average height and build except that he was covered from head to toe with blood and was still bleeding.

            “Welcome to the large training arena! Test your mettle with your metal. Hone your skills with some friendly combat. Nine individual rings inside.” shouted the bloody warrior as the small party moved towards the covered bridge to cross a stream. The small party followed the path until they came to a little old woman who had a small hut with many clay jars of dyes and elixirs.

            “Her name is Shin Po and she is the local dye dealer. She also makes refreshing tea elixirs that refresh the mind and body. She is also my aunt.” said Nevets as he gave the old woman a hug.

            “Here is some tea for you Nevets, and a sample for each of your friends too.” said Shin Po as she handed Nevets a small clay vessel. “I may have a small job for you and your friends to do for me in a couple of hours if you would be nice enough to come back and see me so I can give you a package to deliver.”

            “Sure thing, but first I need to complete my tour of town and show my new friends to the Halla Elder that way we can go questing together since the elder always has some quest to do.” said Nevets as he pulled the stopper from his bottle of tea.

            “The Halla Elder... He is as crazy as an old coot can get. Always hoping for the Jijon King he is. I wonder if he will even live long enough to see the return of the king and the liberation of all the planets from the devil kings. I am just a few years younger than him and I am not all senile like he is.” said Shin Po with a cackle. The small party moved quickly through the small clearing past a small pond when the noise of a blacksmith could be heard.

            “Hi Nanta, It is good to see that you are feeling better.” said Nevets as he approached the smithy. “This is my brother. He can make a variety of armors and weapons here. Most of his creations are highly coveted here in Halla and on other planets in the system. He is one of the best blacksmiths.” stated Nevets as he slapped the man on the back.

            “It is true. Every word of it. I am one of the best smithies and so are my cousins. We each specialize in different materials to enhance each others work. Most people start out here on Halla so I craft my legendary armors and various weapons here. My girlfriend Ma Joah can take my armors and add additional protection by sewing on additional layers. She is the first one you need to visit to get your armors from initially. She does not charge too much for them, but you do need to gather the raw materials for her since they are in high demand here as well.” said Nanta as he points to a building behind his forge. “Her father, Moo Sang, sells some weapons as well if your interested in black weapons.”

            “Black weapons?” inquired Kawn. “What are those and how are they any different?”

            “Black weapons are copies of the advanced weapons that I forge, but they are made with a lower quality material which makes them cheaper and slightly less effective than my weapons. My cousins also produce more advanced black weapons to make them more affordable to warriors that cannot afford the prices of the superior weapons. Of course when upgrading or forging new equipment there is a slight chance that it will fail and not be blessed. That is another reason for the black weapons as well as armors.” said Nanta. “You must visit Ma Joah after you visit the Halla elder.”

            “That is where I am taking them Nanta. We were visiting everyone on the way to see him and I was pointing out key places as well.” said Nevets as pointed to a path leading behind the forge towards a small hut with weapons on sale at one end and armors on sale at the other end. “We will be going past Ma Joah on our way to the elder.” The small group turned right and went past the small shop and then turned left towards a large plaza. “There is the town square where the Halla elder can be found.”

            The small party approached the plaza and went up the stairs and saw an old man standing next to a pavilion in the center of the plaza. “Welcome to Halla planet new comers. I am the Halla elder. I have been here since Halla was stitched together by God. As all elders, do I protect the town from invaders except for when the devil kings come. At that time I protect all within the city limits from becoming minions of the bone master.” said the wiry old man. “To prepare you for the Jijon King, I do have a quest of you, well actually I have many quests for you to fulfill in order to find the king. The first quest is the requirements for Nanta’s legendary armor and legendary sword. These elements can be found in the Tomb of Swords which is located about five or six miles southwest of town. Once you have all the requirements come and see me. I can teleport you to the sword altar to receive the legend sword only once. This will be a stepping stone to the ultimate weapon for the Jijon King.”

            “Told you he would give you a quest. Ha! Ha! Ha! He does not waste any time with formalities.” said Nevets.

            “And how far are you on your requirements Nevets? I see that you are still toting a Yain sword and wearing only silver armors.” stated the old man.

            “I am working on it! Besides, my new friends need help and I will help them while I get my requirements.” shouted Nevets as he browsed his inventory to see what he still needed for the objective. “I have most of the items in my bag anyway.”

            “Just make sure you introduce them to Pan Da and Joora before you leave town since they will need both a storage account and potions to aid in health recovery.” said the old man as he turned sharply to talk to someone who called for his attention. “They must complete this first objective before the three moons become one.”

            The party turned back towards the path that they came up and departed from the Halla elder towards the large building just to the east of the plaza. “This is where you come to get various potions and various other items. This is Pan Da, she is a great asset to our community.” said Nevets as she finished a transaction and looked at the party.

            “Please, we are all important to the community in some way. Just look at all the people selling their wares in the court yard. Each offers something valuable that will save other much time... for the right price that is.” said Pan Da smiling graciously.

            “Now you are just being modest Pan Da. You really do keep all of Halla going one way or another.” said Nevets. “Joora is the warehouse keeper of Halla planet. Her warehouse has special properties that allow the owner to access their belongings from any warehouse in the entire universe... for a fee of course. Let’s go talk to her now so she can start your accounts up. I will see you later Pan Da.”

            “See you later then. You and your friends can come back anytime for a special deal. Just do not tell anyone else about our deal. okay?” stated Pan Da.

            “Deal!” exclaimed the party as they walked over towards the warehouse and it’s keeper.

            “This is Joora, The warehouse keeper.” stated Nevets as he took a sheet of parchment from his bag to access his account.

            “It is free to store your items, but I charge a small fee to retrieve them. I have to make a living somehow right?” said Joora as she handed Kawn, Viper and Lonely Rose each a storage scroll. “All you need to do is mark what items you want stored and they will be transported to your magic storage drawer. To retrieve just simply reduce the number in storage and the appropriate amount of gold will be deducted from your money bag. This keeps everyone honest since there are so many people coming and going all the time. In the event of become a minion of the Bone Master, all items will be forfeited and sold to the highest bidder since you will not be needing them unless a family member is available to stake a claim to all your items. All funds raised this way go to the White Police for purchasing of supplies for their fight against the Devil Kings.”

Author's Note

Content and Flow