mercenary jobs #2 — open to all

[unweave]

Who: Anyone interested in taking some mercenary jobs via Aranea Highwind's offerings. She will be texting people she's made contact with in her initial mercenary network post. However, newcomers can find jobs posted in Wyver.
What: Mercenary posting!
When: N/A
Where: N/A
Warning(s): Nothing particular!

Thank you for stopping by to check out this month's job postings for Highwind Hires — a freelance mercenary group!

Aranea Highwind will ICly be contacting characters and offering them jobs based off the assumption she will receive 30% of the cut. Due to the change in settings, Aranea has waved her fee and is allowing people to keep the full cut of the payment to help them get on their feet.

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JOB #1 — DRAGON RESCUE

With the infection in Wyver, a local dragon-nursery is in need of workers to help tend for sick dragons. They will need baths, feedings, and even surgery in some cases. Will you answer the call and provide the support Wyver needs in this trying time?

OUTCOMES:
- The nursery will pay you 100 silver for a day's work.

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JOB #2 — REDEMPTION FOR FAMILY

An elderly woman named Vetmir has somehow got in contact with Highwind Hire, hoping to find her son's killer. Her son was murdered weeks ago by a former lover. The woman is hiding in The Old City, Alora, is often seen among the trading market near the evening making a living a drug trader.

OUTCOMES:
- Vetmir promises 140 silver with delivery of a locket her son gave Alora.
- Sparing Alora's life will earn you her side of the story, where she had to defend herself after a drunken encounter with Vetmir's son. This earns you 40 silver in appreciation and the locket, which nets you Vetmir's 140 silver if delivered back for a total of 180 silver.

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JOB #3 — BONES FOR A CURE

Criny, a medicine woman is looking for a large supply of Puox bones from their camouflaged exterior. This crucial parts are needed to craft some potions to help relieve aches for the sick. While definitely not the cure, Puox is needing someone to travel to Murkwell Hollow and someone to help assist in potion making.

OUTCOMES:
- Anyone who brings her 6 bonespurs from Puox will receive 170 silver.
- People who help in potion making will receive 30 silver per potion with a maximum of 6 potions a day.

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JOB #4 — SEARCH & RESCUE

Jillam, a street vendor, has not seen their fruit supplier in a few days. Worried they were lost in The Undergrowth, they are enlisting a search and rescue. Traveling to the Undergrowth will prove difficult — gather a small party for back up.

The vendor cart is abandoned with a broken axis, the fruit still good but the driver missing. Exploring further will allow the players to rescue Qun from a man-eating plant.

OUTCOMES:
- Anyone who participates in the search and rescue will receive 200 silver.
- Players can attempt repair the carriage and return the fruit back for cut of the food for free.
- Players who explore for the vendor will be able to fight a large man-eating plant similar to a venus flytrap with sentient vines. If Qun is rescued, you will receive an additional 100 silver.

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Have fun! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me! These are all loosely based on your choices, so feel free to go wild with them. The outcomes only are indication of what the jobs would offer. If you're interested in having your character offer a job in the future, please let me know!

Comments

[emblazes]

[Good call; a slight nod in agreement. It was only a thought that came to him as a counterargument. Of all his conspiracy theories and odd preoccupations, he's never put much through into dragon lore and the complexity of it.]

Good, that means I can copy whatever you do.

[All these people cheating with sibling-having knowledge....]

[maipokerface]

[Pff. Mai can't help the slight smirk she gives. She's trying to encourage the little one on her shoulder to join Keith's own so maybe they can bathe two dragons at once.]

Isn't that cheating?

[Her tone of voice isn't at all serious but it combined with her smirk is sharp enough to make one question whether she is or isn't.]

[emblazes]

It's learning.

[Honest answer, even if she seems a little cheeky about it. They should've run them through a quick how-to course, but Keith didn't catch much more than a laundry list of To Do's regarding these guys; maybe he was mistaken for a vetran handler...

Meanwhile, he'll still be...brushing at his dragon, being a touch more thoughtful in actually rubbing the thing's head down with those bristles instead of prodding at it.]

[maipokerface]

[Alright then, learning it is. She hasn't got much of a clue herself but she assumes bathing them has to concern water somehow. The little brushes are handy but they only do so much.]

I think we're missing something.

[So she wanders off in search of bathing supplies, leaving her dragon with Keith's care. When she returns it's with a wooden tub of water, some purple goo one would think must be some kind of native soap and some cloths draped over her shoulder.]

Now hold still for this.

[The instruction sort of falls on deaf ears because the dragon doesn't much care. Mai wets her own brush and starts to give her dragon a bit of a scrub, starting with the top of it's head. It makes a sort of trilling sound and takes to trying to bite at the brush.]

... You guys don't really follow directions yet.

[emblazes]

[Oh god. If Mai were looking for a quick way to ditch her dragon, she's found it. Her dragon is, indeed, trying to stick to his shirt. Keith finds himself wholly occupied with holding the small reptile far from it while his original dragon starts chewing on the bristles of his brush...

When she returns, he dutifully notes all that she's brought, tries to hold her dragon still so she can scrub it properly.]

Maybe because they're not -- [Oh god, too close to home, abort, abort.] since they're here, they don't really learn what they should early on?

[Just a hunch.]

[maipokerface]

Maybe.

[She muses on that as she scrubs.]

... You think a dragon can be trained?

[They must be able to, given people seem to ride them here but somehow it doesn't sound logical. Or easy to do.]

[emblazes]

...Can't they?

[He's never really put thought into it until now; he just kinda assumed....why else have 'em around if they're forever wild and completely lethal?

He's more or less copying her, as far as properly bathing the dragon goes. Learning by doing....watching...so on and so forth.]

[maipokerface]

Beats me, this is the first time I've ever been around one.

[She frowns some in thought, scrubbing her dragon dutifully. He's mostly suds by now and takes a moment to flap his wings in a flurry of suds and soap.]

[emblazes]

[Keith's thoughtfully focused on the tail; at this size, they're so thing and fragile. Like the hollow bones of a bird almost.]

It's probably hard to do...probably why they have them here as babies.

[But doable, he thinks.]

[maipokerface]

Get them used to you while they're younger and they're more tolerable as an adult?

[Sounds good to her, in theory. Her little dragon is mostly suds by this point and after rinsing off her brush she simply lets him taking out his urge to chew and nip on the end of it while she tries to rinse him off.

Half-sudsy as he is, this is naturally when he decides the best course of action is to shake off completely. Mai quirks a brow as suds fly.]

They're a lot like babies at this stage.

[She grabs the bristled end of her brush.]

Cut it out.

[There's no real threat or even anger in her tone. One wouldn't call it apathetic as much as it is mildly amused. She doesn't like getting dirty but she's a lot more tolerable of it as an adult than she was as a teenager.]

[emblazes]

[Easiest way to acclimate them -- like dogs, maybe? Keith has zero experience with dogs, but it sounds about right.

Her dragon shakes off, his dragon ends up covered in bubbles. Keith hadn't been creating very many all on his own, so this is helpful...even if it's comparable to backwash. He doesn't seem to mind it, though, and immediately starts licking the bubbles from his snout.

Prompting Keith to consecutively scoop water over its head a few times.]

...Hard to believe they'll be big enough to eat us someday.

[maipokerface]

Even a komodo rhino starts out as a baby.

[She drenches her own dragon as well. He takes it in stride, shaking himself off in a flurry.]

[emblazes]

[He's picking his dragon up, looking from side to side for a clean towel of sorts -- maybe they're in the cabinet underneath. He doesn't get so far, however.]

Don't you mean komodo dragon? The lizard...

[maipokerface]

Komodo dragon? Never heard of them.

[She quirks a half-grin though]

Don't worry, the animals here and in everyone else's worlds sound just as weird to me as a komodo rhino does to you.

[emblazes]

[Good clarification there. He regards her oddly, not sure if it's a wordly thing or a personal thing. He'll proceed as the former, to not offend...]

Theyre big lizards -- where I come from. I think their spit makes them dangerous.

[While picking his dragon up, glancing it over...looks clean. No different than from when they began.]

[maipokerface]

[A big lizard, eh. Mai holds her own dragon in her cupped hands, letting it flap away and shed water everywhere.]

Sounds like a mongoose lizard. Besides the spitting part anyhow. They're good at tracking things though.

[emblazes]

[It'd be interesting to see a picture of one; Keith's got a highkey interest in cryptids, and a mongoose lizard inherently sounds like it'd fit the bill.

Primarily because he'd never heard or seen one before, copious as they may be at her place.]

Like a dog?

[While allowing his lizard to perch itself on his shoulder. Caring for these guys is so much easier with a proper distraction???]

[maipokerface]

[Anything is less tedious with distraction in Mai's opinion. And she's a near expert on looking for ways to make life less tedious now.]

Pretty much. Usually they're trained as mounts and can track anything - or anyone for that matter - for days without really needing to rest. Great for a chase, not so great on whoever ends up riding one.

[emblazes]

They don't need rest?

[Suspicious; maybe they're actually robots.]

Seeing dragon mounts here must not be too weird for you then?

[Sounds similarish, at least, though he still knows very little about dragons and dragons as mounts...]

Back home, people only would use horses like that. You could ride other things -- do you know what a horse is?

[Not..to sound..condescending..]

[maipokerface]

Not really. ... Well, maybe a little. All the dragons are gone in my world.

[Or as far as she knows they are. She cocks a brow up at his question.]

You mean the things that seem to be everywhere here?

[There's no small bit of sarcasm in there.]

[emblazes]

[LISTEN, JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE HORSES HERE DOESN'T MEAN SHE'S FAMILIAR WITH THEM. Just because it was their main means of travel from Olympia--


He'll just heave a sigh, look elsewhere for a moment.]

Did you have those back home?

[That sounds better in hindsight, but the damage has been done...]

[maipokerface]

Not really. We had a lot of other mounts but nothing like a horse. I suppose the closest would be an ostrich horse.

[emblazes]

An...ostrich horse?!

[People just splicing animals left and right...]

[maipokerface]

That's what they're called. They don't exactly look like what they call horses here though.

[emblazes]

Do they look like birds-?

[He'll slowly be moving to the nursery-nursery, to set his dragon down in its decided nest -- where he'd first retrieved it from.]