[Mkguild] Round Robin - Exchanges

[Rimme the Weasel]

The Keeper guard, bearing the tabard of the Euper Watch, looked Kasaima up
and down. "You know the rug merchants, do you? Mayhap you can answer some
questions we 'ave on 'em."

>From Kasaima's shoulder, Trey interrupted. "He doesn't know them, I told
him about the carpets. That man," he pointed to Reed, "he was the only one
I spoke to." Which was technically true. Trey didn't need to tell the
guards that he'd overheard the talk of mutiny.

A short man with grizzled brown hair in a fine green coat pushed his way
through. Reed was close behind him with another guard. "There's the buyer I
told you about," Reed was saying to the well-dressed man.

The man ignored the small rat and scrutinized the oni and his thick blue
pouches. His hard face instinctively softened at the prospect of a deal,
before it hardened again. "Reed, Aldwin, would you settle our latest guest
in for a drink? I'll see if I can't move our cargo where he can see them,
away from these nosy patrolmen."

The other guard, his uniform cleaner than Reed's and his weapons more
awkwardly conspicuous, nodded as he gawked at the large oni. Aldwin seemed
about the same age of Trey, not yet hardened by years or even weeks of
combat.

All four of them moved to a table, which had been quickly vacated upon
Kasaima's arrival. Kasaima sat down and politely waited for Reed to ask
what he'd like to drink.

"Your hospitality is generous, but I fear that unless this establishment
carries a good amount of sake, more than I'm that sure coin could buy, I
likely won't be satisfied enough to enjoy it. Both of you look like you
could use the drink more than me. May I ask again what's going on here?"

Reed and Aldwin exchanged looks, and Aldwin sighed. "Two of the other
guards, Rodrick and Nathan. They broke into our rooms while we were all out
of the inn. They took all the food and money we had. Then they broke into
the stable and took our horses. Stabbed a couple guys on the way out. Seems
like they fled south without us."

"That's terrible!" Trey said. "Who was hurt?"

"A stablehand got his arm slashed. Two gate guards were knocked down and
trampled. They'll be fine, they won't injured too bad, and some healers
were there immediately."

"I wish I had gotten here earlier. No one would have had to get hurt."

Aldwin cringed and stared down at the table. Reed gave a slight shrug as he
spoke. "Nothing can be done for it now. They left the rugs and the wagon.
The real problem is they took the horses. We've been in Metamor for five
days now, and the five of us now have no way out."

Kasaima tilted his head. "Are you in a hurry to leave, then?"

The other three looked at him in varying degrees of confusion. "Ah!" Reed
realized. "You're not human, so it wouldn't have mattered to you."

Aldwin's eyes shot back up. Apparently he had assumed the oni was just
another Keeper.

Reed continued, "Humans who stay a week or more at Metamor are at risk of
being cursed. And after two weeks, unless they have some rare magic
shielding, they always get cursed."
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