(Courier Work #1)

[wrecking_yard]

I had enough from my work at the shop and some of the repairs I'd helped with to cover travel supplies, tools, and materials for making ammunition and doing upkeep. There wasn't much left over - if I'm going to get bearings and work on a plan, I need to do something to get by.

There's a few notes on the message board outside the inn looking for odd jobs - I haven't field tested the pepperbox yet, which limits the field for now.

One notice looks like it's been there a couple days - courier job, one person, small parcel, requesting discretion; the meeting point is an abandoned building by the docks, a decent chunk of gold with half up front and half on delivery, client only identified by initials.

It's a list of red flags - small wonder it looks like it's been ignored.

It's also perfect for my purposes.

The dock area is quiet and empty after dark, with no sign of life in the building cited on the listing. Even when I open the door, the building looks empty and abandoned, dark and with visible cobwebs.

I get five feet inside before there's a burst of bright spheres of light around me and a voice calls out "Stop there" - I pause, then can't get myself to move forward again.

It's a mage. Wonderful.

"I'm here about the courier job."

I can't see more than a shape on a balcony above through the lights, but there's definitely a person leaning on the railing.

"How old are you?" The voice is distorted - just enough to make it hard to identify anything about it; they sound incredibly doubtful and long-suffering.

"Seventeen."

They repeat it in a quiet mutter as I'm trying to get a better look at the source of the voice. "And you think you're capable of getting a valuable package past any hostile parties?"

"I've escaped from a vampire, a powerful necromancer, and their servants." Two words in I've realized it's way more than I wanted to say and there's some kind of compulsion truth spell in effect, but for now it's not worth fighting it.

It does give the mage pause, and their tone is less exasperated. "Who are you?"

"Percival Fredrickstein von Musel de Rolo III."

There's another pause, then the voice is coming from the first floor. The figure's still on the balcony, but there's another shape with the same sillhouette in the gloom in front of me. "Are they looking for you?"

"If they were, they'd have caught up by now."

There's silence, and I do notice that the two shapes seem to be mirroring - shifting weight the same, gesturing the same. "Can you defend yourself in a fight?"

I stop myself from just aying 'yes', and instead draw the pepperbox, load it, aim at the wall a few feet to the side of me, and fire. I definitely need to work on getting used to the recoil, but there's silence as the echo of the gunshot dies down, a decent hole blown in the wall; the pause from the two figures is definitely intrigued. Most casters worthy of the name would be aware that it's not magic.

"Do you have any other contracts, allegiances, or affiliations that would interfere?" This time the voice comes from behind me, on the other side from the two previous images; I bristle at that, shifting so that I can more easily keep track of all three for the most part... but they sound like they're seriously considering it now.

It's an easy answer. "No."

"Would you break the contract if you were offered a larger sum by another party?" It's the one on the balcony again speaking.

"If I give my word, I keep it." I glare at the image above.

"And if your life is in danger?"

"I keep my word." I give both shadows a flat look, with an extra sharp glare at the one by the door behind me. "Breaking contracts is an awful way to do business, even when not dealing with anyone dangerous."

There's another silent pause, and the image behind me disappears. "Alright, you have this job."

The lights and truth spell get dismissed; they're wearing a hooded robe with another illusion covering the face in nondescript darkness, still keeping the distortion on their voice. The box is small and plain metal with a built in lock - square and a little little shorter on any side than a deck of cards. For all the mage theatrics, the directions are simple enough; who and where to deliver it, a plan silver pendant on a chain to hand over to get in the door for the delivery with a symbol I don't recognize; speed is appreciated but discretion and success are the higher priority.

I spent the night wearing the pendant, with the box wrapped n padding and leather along side my tools and a similar wrapped bundle with my pocketwatch, in my pack, on the bed with me in the inn. I ended up using the last bit of coin I had beside the advance just so I wouldn't be tipping off anyone to how much I was carrying there; the coastal town wasn't that big and I didn't want to draw the wrong attention over something that stupid.

I left bright and early in the morning on foot. I could've afforded a horse, but one of my best protections was passing off as a scraggly tradesman's apprentice on an errand; it took enough fidgeting to attach something over the pepperbox's holster to make it look like a random tool pouch while still keeping it so I could get to it quickly. There was just enough traffic in and out to blend in at the gate without getting too close to anyone; peddlers and traders coming and going, a few other random travelers. There's some other foot traffic, but the further from town I got, the more it thinned out as carts, riders, and faster traffic outpaced anyone on foot, and peddlers with heavier packs fell further behind.

A few of the other people on foot on the road try for small talk; I don't catch much in the way of real red flags, but there's also no telling what is and isn't safe out here. I have an easy enough story to stick to for genial chatter until I can find a way to break away; tinker's apprentice, running an errand, my master was going to deliver something to a client in another town but had a sudden pile of work dropped on him that was time sensitive so I was running the delivery for him. A few of them have passing recognition of Volgan, but that's about it.

There's a few times I could've sworn I caught sight of something off the road around some building or tree, but I'm not sure if I'm jumping at shadows or not - and acting too wary would look suspicious anyway, so I mostly opted for just keeping a safe distance on any potential cover.

Eventually the few buildings on the town outskirts fade out to just road and open countryside with occasional copses of trees. It's mostly exposed, with traffic spreading out more and more; most of the day goes by with no sign of anyone taking me as anything other than an apprentice on an errand.