Looking For Protection

Job Title: C-Rank Free-form
Rank: C
Job Location: Anywhere
Solo Word Count: 1,500 words
Group Word Count: 3,000 words
Additional Requirements: N/A
Job Description: Whatever the player chooses
Enemies: Whatever the player chooses
Reward: 10,000 jewels

Job Sign-Up Page 34, Post Number 842

-The outskirts of Hargeon Town, early afternoon-

Wearing a blue t-shirt with black skirt and white tennis shoes, Victoria leisurely strolled into the outskirts of Hargeon Town in search of her friend and job partner Abigail Windstrider. She could hear the distant call of seagulls sounding from the harbor district and see trickles of people flowing in and out of the port town. Victoria was here for an important reason and that reason had to do with Abigail.

Today's objective was to find some armor for the blonde mage, who was going to accompany the Sabertooth mage into the perilous region known as Sin in two more days. Since neither the mages nor their client Franklin Kerwes knew the kind of opposition they would be going up against, Victoria had suggested that Abigail get some armor because the former could not always protect her during what promised to be a long trip across hostile territory. Abigail agreed and later in the day Victoria's mentor Florence suggested that they pay a visit to a friend of hers who owned an armor shop in Hargeon Town with the bland but honest name of Protective Gear.

So here they were. Or rather, here was Victoria. Abigail was nowhere to be seen and was not within her magic detection range. Had she run into trouble or had she walked on down to the harbor district in order to get some seafood before all the seafood restaurants were packed to capacity? It was lunchtime, after all... maybe Abigail had went to get something to eat before they went shopping for armor.

Victoria stood on the town outskirts and was not entirely sure what to do. Should she stay here and wait a bit longer or should she go canvass the seafood restaurants in search of her missing friend? She had no idea, but she was getting to feel more than a bit hungry herself. Toast and orange juice was not exactly the breakfast of champions and the modest meal had about as much staying power as a snowball in Desierto.

The brunette opted to stay where she was on the off chance that Abigail was simply running late and would be along shortly. At least Victoria hoped that the blonde was just sluggish and had not fallen prey to any of the local bandits who staked out the trails leading into Hargeon Town. If there had been any bandits watching her from afar, they had given Victoria a wide berth because she did not need to brandish a weapon to ward off trouble. At this point in her career the brunette was a weapon. She could give most of the current Wizard Saints a run for their money if push came to shove.

However, Abigail was not quite as strong or as famous as the Sabertooth mage and might have attracted the wrong sort of attention from the local outlaws. Maybe she should check the roads leading into Hargeon Town for the missing blonde.

[Word Count: 506]
[Total Word Count: 506/1,500]

-Outskirts of Hargeon Town, one hour later-

Victoria had spent an hour waiting outside of Hargeon Town for her companion to arrive and she had seen no sign of the blonde. Maybe Abigail had run into trouble after all and needed a helping hand. Victoria had taken six steps down the road out of town when she saw a flash of curly blonde hair with a sprig in the front sticking up and felt a magic signature from the approaching person. On her left hip was the scabbard of a curved sword. Wearing a white t-shirt with blue jean skirt and brown leather boots, a winded Abigail came jogging up to Victoria.

"Huff... huff... Sorry about being so late, Victoria. I had to help a group of travelers with a bandit problem. It took me about fifteen minutes to solve it, mostly because there were so many bandits." Abigail apologized for her tardiness and offered an explanation for it. Victoria looked at Abigail and quickly discerned from her body language that the mage was not lying. The brunette did not hold the tardiness against the blonde, especially since it was for a good cause.

"It's no big deal, Abby. We've got to find that Protective Gear place, but I forgot to ask Florence where to go to find it." Victoria admitted to the blonde. Abigail blinked and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know where it is either, Vic. We should ask around and see what we can learn." Abigail suggested to her partner. Since they had no other options, Victoria agreed with the rudimentary plan. It was not the best plan, but it was a start.

"Works for me. Let's go into town and see if anyone can give us directions to the place." Victoria voiced her agreement with the suggestion. Together the mages strolled into town and made a beeline for the harbor district, which had restaurants and taverns they could visit. Aside from food, restaurants and taverns tended to be the best places to get information because of the variety of people who congregated in those establishments. A lot of people meant a lot of potential sources of information to choose from.

-The harbor district, fifteen minutes later-

Standing to the side of a fish market and enduring the accompanying stench, the mages had canvassed the busy harbor district for the location of Protective Gear and had come up with a lead, which was good news and bad news. The good news was that the armor shop was not too far from their present location; it was located in the harbor district's shopping plaza which was only a brief walk around the docks. The bad news was that the prices ran into at least five figures for basic armor. Custom orders cost even more than the already high base price.

"Well, I hope you brought your wallet because we're gonna be paying a lot for this protection." Abigail dryly commented to Victoria while doing her best not to choke on the stench of fish hauled straight from the water.

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it. I hope." Victoria tried to be optimistic about the prices at the armor shop. The brunette hoped that she would not be fleeced by the owner and she hoped that the armor she bought would be quality merchandise and not some poorly made junk. She did not want to get to Sin only to find out that she and Abigail had been sold shoddy merchandise that could not protect Abigail from a fly running into her.

Together the pair left the fish market behind and wound their way around the docks until they spotted the shopping plaza they had been told about. It was an area of shops clustered around a square with a circular stone fountain. The fountain boasted a robed woman standing on a pedestal and pouring water from the upturned jar in her hands into the fountain basin. The plaza crowded with shoppers and street vendors manning carts that sold food like pretzels and hot dogs. They had found the plaza... the main problem now was getting through the crowd to find Protective Gear.

[Word Count: 702]
[Total Word Count: 1,208/1,500]

Victoria and Abigail weaved their way through the crowds milling about until they found a cluster of three shops that sold weapons, armor, and magical supplies like alchemy ingredients a short distance behind the statue of the jar-holding woman they had spotted earlier. The weapons shop was named The Cutting Edge and had as its emblem a fist clutching a gleaming longsword. The magical supply shop was named Alchemist's Abode and had as its emblem a glass beaker nestled safely under a wooden roof. The armor shop was named Protective Gear and had the logo of a silver shield embossed with the cuirass of a suit of steel armor.

"Well, we found it." Abigail said to her partner with relief, pointing out the shop they needed to visit. Victoria too had despaired of finding it in any appreciable length of time before nightfall and shared Abigail's relief. Now all they had to do was walk up to the shop, go in and browse its wares, and make a purchase.

The two mages worked their way through crowds holding shopping bags and talking on iLacs until they reached Protective Gear, which was nestled in the middle of the three-shop cluster. Abigail's hand reached for the brass door handle to the wooden door of the shop and gripped it.

"Well Vic, let's hope that we can find some decent armor here. Maybe they'll have something that fits me." Abigail expressed hope before pulling the door handle. The door did not move. Abigail tried again and the door refused to open for her.

"What's this? Why won't it open?" Abigail asked Victoria, who was every bit as puzzled as the blonde. The door was locked, but they did not know why. The door to The Cutting Edge opened and a thin, wiry man with blond hair in a buzzcut stepped out. He was wearing a green tank top with olive green cargo pants and black boots; over the tank top was a black apron with The Cutting Edge name and logo.

"Hey, you guys looking for Liz?" The man asked.

"Yeah. We'd like to buy some armor from the owner of Protective Gear." Abigail answered. The man smiled and walked over to introduce himself.

"I'm Jack, the owner of The Cutting Edge. Liz is my sister. She's also the owner of Protective Gear." The man claimed. Victoria looked at him closely and observed his body language to check for signs of lying. He was being truthful to them, so the brunette relaxed.

"Do you know where your sister is?" Abigail asked Jack. Jack's face flashed a sign of worry.

"Yeah. She went to the Tri-Council City in Desierto to get supplies, but I haven't heard from her in a week. I wonder if something happened to her, something bad. Maybe Liz or her friend got mixed up with the wrong crowd." Jack answered. Again Victoria could not detect any lies coming from the man, so she kept quiet and let him talk.

"Desierto?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah. She knows a lady there named Joanna. Joanna's a transplant from here who's been a friend of ours ever since grade school. She runs an armor shop there named The Desert Defender. I'd go check with her, but my shop's so busy that I can't leave here." Jack told them. Victoria and Abigail looked at each other. They did not have much time to get ready for the mission to Sin, but they could not afford to leave Liz in the lurch if she was in trouble. They nodded... they would go to Desierto and check around for the missing armor vendor.

"We'll go look for her if you want." Abigail offered. Victoria looked at him in solidarity with Abigail.

"You'll go all the way out there for me and try to find my sister? Thanks!" Jack eagerly accepted the offer of assistance. Victoria and Abigail were embraced by the man and let it happen. He realized what he was doing and quickly let them go, then spoke to them again.

"I'd start my search in the Tri-Council City at The Desert Defender. Maybe Joanna spotted Liz. Maybe not. I wish I had more to tell you, but I don't." Jack said while he swelled with emotion that he could barely contain.

"We'll go and find her." Abigail assured him. The man was overcome with emotion and rushed back into his shop to avoid a public breakdown. The pair decided against following him and opted to leave Hargeon Town to get ready for a detour to Desierto. This detour would take valuable time that they needed to get ready to go into Sin for the final confrontation with Alexander Kerwes, but they could not leave Liz in the desert and at the mercy of Desierto's countless outlaws. They would either rescue her or bring her body back for burial.

[Word Count: 838]
[Total Word Count: 2,046/1,500]