Chapter 1 - New Horizons

When the gnolls and Wooster focused on Eun's special class and her very low level, they displayed extreme surprise. Not surprisingly, Colin can read that the adventurers are very interested in your group since everyone seems to be so different than what they expect from the world. Kimberly and Eun's newness to the system (as indicated by low level and "lack of class") results in the gnolls treating your group as if they are children - innocent and to be protected. Colin can see the beginnings of an almost parental protectiveness forming around the group. You believe with almost absolute certainty that these gnolls mean no harm.

"N-n-no class? How is that possible? mutters a gnoll as Kimberly speaks. It shakes its head in disbelief and lets out a loud sneeze.

"I. Uh. No class," murmurs Woosten thoughtfully as he scratches his chin with his claws. "Only newborns have no class, but even they get one quickly. It's almost as if you never existed here..."

"Well, there's many common classes. [Warrior], [Farmer], [Shopkeeper], [Thug]... lists Woosten as he rattles off a number of mundane type of jobs. "A bit more complicated are classes that require some sort of training or apprenticeship, like [Tailor] or [Blacksmith]. Then you have some rare classes, which usually have fancy names like [King], [Berserker], or [Spellblade.] Magic classes are pretty rare too, especially around these parts. "

The caravan is chugging along and soon, the high walls and gate of Haven is visible in the horizon. The city sits on a large hill and has towering stone walls, which hide the buildings inside. It seems as if the walls do not cover the whole city, as a small shanty town has spilled out around the main gate outside the walls. You can see figures moving around, the entire town bustling with activity. To the magical gaze of Kimberly, the stone walls are covered with multi-colored runes that glow brightly even during the light of the day.

Wooster just grunts, "I just got the [Warrior] class."

"Hahaha! The heck he does, Wooster was a [Farmer] too! And not a very good one!" chortles one of the gnolls in his party as the rest burst out into cackling laughter.

The gnoll adventurers quiet down as Wooster glares at them, but the twinkle in their eyes remain as you approach the gate. The gates to Haven are wide open and a dozen bored-looking guards stand in front of the gate. There's a small queue of people looking to enter the city, where a figure sits on a crate behind a rickety-looking wooden desk with parchment and pen taking notes.

The guard at the desk is not a gnoll. Rather, it looks something like a humanoid dragon. The guards next to him are a mixture of the same dragon-esque race and gnolls. Vincent, from his background of pen-and-paper games, recognizes these creatures as Drakes. Or are they lizardmen? One of the two...

Vincent will go along with whatever the general story is for getting into the city especially if they are going in with the gnolls.

"Those gate guards just check to make sure you're not smuggling anything or aren't wanted. I assume it's your first time in Haven, so they may want to have your record on file but it's nothing I would worry too much about. You're with us, after all!," says Wooster in a confident tone. As your group approaches the gate, you can tell that the guards are letting drakes through without any issues, but some of the travelling gnolls are being held up at the gate.

Wooster frowns and lets out a small snarl, but he does nothing as the caravan joins the queue. One of the other gnolls sighs and mutters, "Curse those scalebrains... ." As you guys wait in line, it's clear that Haven has some sort of racial tensions - while both Drakes and Gnolls are the primary races living in the city, it seems like Drakes hold the positions of power and aren't afraid to make it known. As your group nears the gate guards, you can hear their bored tones cutting through the air.

"Purpose for entering?" recites the Drake sergeant in a monotonous voice.

"[Merchant]. I bring pottery and baskets.," says a small grey gnoll as his beast of burden nibbles on the grass by his side.

"Do you have any of the following items: drugs, dark magic, artifacts worth over one thousand gold pieces...," says the sergeant as he continues to follow the script. There's a bit of back and forth and then the sergeant says, "Ok. That'll be an entry fee of 2 silver."

"W-w-what? That's outrageous! The drake in front of me only paid five copper!" splutters the merchant angrily. His anger melts as he meets the eyes of the drake sergeant, who he realizes will bar him entry if he doesn't pay. Wearily, the merchant reaches into his purse and slaps two gleaming coins onto the wooden desk and walks on through.

As you get closer to the gate, Gobby begins to get worried and starts to fidget. You have noticed a few instances where the gate guards required citizens to pull up their hoods, but it seemed almost random.

Eun frowns when she sees the overt racism and whispers, "Humans aren't well-liked in this region, right? If they're treating gnolls that poorly.... what will that mean for us?" as she eyes Gobby. Following her gaze, David looks at Gobby and frowns.

With Colin's stealth roll, he realizes that there's some space on the carts that that could fit a small person. Heaped on the back of one of the carts is all manner of products and fabrics, which will be very easy for Gobby to crawl into and hide if he needs to. Thankfully, there's nobody else behind you in line and the guards aren't really paying much attention to the queue.

Vincent moves back to talk quietly with his companions, "What are we going to do, we don't have coin."

Vincent looks to Kimberly, "You think the seeds or any asprin Eun has might be considered drugs, or that the dagger may be worth that much ?"

At the gate sits just a single guard on a rickety wooden desk taking notes of the incoming travelers, but to his side stand four other bored-looking guards.

Wooster looks at Colin incredulously when the "child" is mentioned, "Your kid is cursed? Wow, you must've pissed off a mage good. Well, there's an adventurer's guild in town, they can probably lift the curse for a fee."

As the group approaches, Kimberly whispers something under her breath and the desk drake sneezes for a moment before he continues taking names. He seems a bit dazed as he runs down the list of pre-scripted questions, waving travelers through absentmindedly.

As your caravan approaches, the Drake looks up and says, "Name and business?."

"Trade caravan. We're adventurers assigned as guards," Wooster begins to say. The Drake holds up a hand and massaged his temples as if he has a slight headache, and then just says, "Standard fee for two four-axle carts plus however many of you there are. Uhh... let's just say 10 silver."

Wooster nods and pays the silver, but his reaction to the price is quite easy to read. It almost seems as if gnolls have some similarities with dogs since his tail began wagging just a little bit before he caught himself and put on his poker face. As your group walks through the gate, one of the guards fixes his gaze on Gobby with a furrowed brow but otherwise says nothing.

As you get past the main gate of Haven, you can see a wide paved stone road run through the center of the city. Buildings advertising their wares and services line the side of the road. The area is rather clean and there's a steady bustle of activity, with drakes and gnolls running about completing their errands slowing ever so slightly to gaze at the humans that just entered the town. In the distance, you can see three rather large buildings, which Wooster points out as the Adventurer's Guild, the Merchant's Association, and the Guard Headquarters.

After the caravan passes the gate, Wooster turns towards the caravan owner and exchanges a few words. A small seal is handed over to Wooster, which the gnoll pockets. Shortly afterward, the caravan owner leads his carts down the large central road towards the Merchant's Association, leaving your group standing with the gnoll adventurers.

"Oof, that's a tough question. If I were weak, human, and broke... I figure I would head to the merchant guild and ask for a milk run. Deliver a message, clear out some rats in an inn, or maybe go goblin hunting if I'm feeling brave." Wooster says as he scratches his chin.

"My crew's going to be in town for a few days as we get rest. Gotta find another contract before we head out too, so if you need any advice. We like to stay at the 'Laughing Monkey'." says Wooster as his crew begins splitting up and wandering around town. "Well, I gotta head out. Promised a lady she would be my first stop when I get here, if you get what I mean?" says Wooster with a wink. He heads off at a not-so-discreet jog into the town cluster.

As the group disperses around you, you find yourself just a block or two off of the central square of the town. Eun and David look around and then say, "We're getting some attention here. Maybe we should step off to a side?"

"Well, the merchant guild would probably be where I can do the most. Accountant, remember?" says David with a small grin.

"W-w-well, I'm a [Doctor] so maybe I can be helpful at the adventurer's guild? It sounds dangerous, so I can try and patch people up...," whispers Eun quietly.

---

From where your group is standing and conversing, you can see you're just on the edge of a huge square filled with small booths manned by merchants peddling their goods. As gnolls and drakes pass by your group, you can't help but feel stares zeroing in on your group. There's a number of bars and more successful merchants that have brick-and-mortar stores surrounding the square. You can see a number of much larger buildings towering over its neighbors, presumably the important buildings such as the adventuring guild, merchant guild, and the guard headquarters.

"Yeah, let us see if we can get the dagger appraised and sold then we can split the coin for our new lives here. Eun, I think you will be very useful here. Doctors cant be too common."