Courier

[Joku Shoyia]

One of the decisions the oriental looking elven warrior merchant had made early on upon his arrival to the realms and city of RhyDin was to keep his resources reserved and hold on to as much as possible for as long as possible. He had arrived with means to probably set himself up in a large manor in the city and never have to work again while enjoying a moderate lifestyle. He had retired from the shadow running lifestyle he left behind on Earth thanks to his patron, Rhonabwy, but he was still very capable of using the skill sets of his previous career effectively. Thankfully, his team league dueling contract had given him a great cover for his monetary lifestyle he had sported in public. Though he was in a decisive contract year, he had managed to set up his underground sanctuary to his standards, acquired some minor merchant licenses, and purchased some land to the north to start a minor land holding realm. But those were all projects to develop over the long term so when he was truly retired from a dangerous lifestyle he had something to keep him sharp and in touch with the scene.

Over the few years he had been about the city of RhyDin he gradually learned of, understood how they operated, and the different levels of players there were in some of the guilds and associations of the underground including the black markets. He knew whom the right contacts were to approach about what types of information or items with such groups as the thieves’ guild, assassins’ guild, the dock and smuggler gangs, and the “secret” magical conclaves. For many nights over many moons throughout all seasons he traveled the rooftops, the alleyways, the sewers and other underground passages around the city trying to learn every nook and granny of the city of RhyDin. Not only did he find some of the haunts and gathering spots of many different denizens public and shadowy, he often would stake out in neighborhoods just to watch the traffic for many days and nights in a row and how others got from place to place when they wanted to be seen or not seen. Back in his sanctuary he had several different produced maps of the city with added notations in his own code about what he knew that the maps did not reveal in print. The sweet new bike he got from Pslyder also augmented his ability to get about the city too.

In the last several moons since sometime during the last team league season he had been performing minor tasks for all these groups to prove his basic ability to be a reliable messenger while trying to make it known he did not wish to join any of these groups directly. But recently he acquired one of those magical satchels that could hold way more in room, weight and, encumbrance then the satchel seemed to reveal. He had one of those official “RhyDin Messenger” seals sewed on it with the license to be a registered trusted messenger/courier that also prohibits unlawful search and seizures of his person. Often has various individuals and organizations when they discovered some of his true potential and skills was he offered bigger contracts that included wet work and dangerous infiltration and acquisitions. While the money would come in bigger amounts quicker, it was also a riskier quick way to make enemies and force him to join in intimately with groups he may not want to be forced to ally with to preserve his existence. He made his intentions knows he wanted to be the glue that held these organizations together in their communications and exchanges with comfort of confidence that an outsider could be a capable go between for them.

He wasn’t interested in shuttling basics memos and lists for items like a grocer, but when it was something so important it had to absolutely get there without notice and the danger many a powerful being might try to mug you for it, he was the man most able to pull it off. He termed himself more a “Courier Specialist” than an errand boy messenger, and preferred to only be on a need to know the basics type of relationship. Joku felt this was a great way to keep his skills sharp, be a legitimate trusted somebody in the underground scene so he could always keep his fingers in the network, and earn himself some good street cred and the spending kind of cred too.

[Joku Shoyia]

Somewhere under the city streets of RhyDin, Joku was traversing the underground network of sewers, tunnels, and other subterranean passages often used by smugglers, shadowy denizens, and the unnatural that sometimes feasted on the previous two. He had excellent natural and astral abilities to see his way without need of aid in lighting, but recently he had acquired an unusual item. In testing the silver ring’s strengths he realized he could imprint upon his mind in much more detail every nook and cranny of these ways to memory so he could move faster through here in future times with less chance of error in being stalled by a dead end or pitfall. Underground in total darkness he found it almost tripled his range of vision and outside out in the forest on a full moon night he figured it had to increase his range at least a half dozen times. He normally wore gloves anyway so he kept the ring on a finger under his glove and when he would need it he would remove the glove to access it. That way he wouldn’t walk around with a permanent bright glow everywhere he went.

He came out of a grate where rainfall drainage emptied into the bay on the west side of the city of RhyDin. He knew he was on the northern end of the seaside docks because Overlord Isle was almost due south of him according to the star pattern positions in the night sky. The grate was part submerged and part above water, and the oriental elven warrior knew there was one last test. Underwater. It was getting to the chilly time of year along the coast and he did not relish this task, but he otherwise would have to wait till the spring to truly know and he had no desire to wait that long to know about what he had as a resource. So he moved all the way north along the coast walking along the beach till we was past the Sisters of Light Hospice. Then he moved out far into the water and swam mostly underwater except for occasionally coming up for fresh air all the way south along the docks, piers, and other coastal access points of the city of RhyDin. Finally, sometime before dawn he came out of the water on the short pier on the south end of the boardwalk down by Rose’s Leather Shop.

Thankfully, he parked his bike out front of the leather shop earlier so that when he came out of the water it would be waiting for him. He had a rendezvous a good distance north of the city he had to get too soon. Pulling a towel out of his bike’s saddlebags he dried himself off, having only brought the barest of attire with him for the swim he dressed himself as he usually went about town fully. A nice little rev of the bike because he enjoyed the sound of it and he was off speeding north to the base of the mountains in that region.

[Joku Shoyia]

Speeding along the old northern trade road that led from the city of RhyDin on the western side of the mountains the oriental elven warrior on his smooth new motorcycle he had purchased from Pslyder a couple of months ago couldn’t help but relish the wind in his limited amount of hair. The bike literally glided over all terrain much like he glided over all surfaces he walked on with his Traceless Walk adept ability leaving the rider of the vehicle feeling like they were riding a cloud. He had gotten used to this route now having traveled it multiple times back and forth from the city of RhyDin to his estates in the north, Echigo Highlands. The bike had learned the route so well in the auto navigation software that it had essentially memorized every curve, dip, bump, crack, and type of surface to have plotted down the most efficient fuel usage course while insuring the least potential of damage coming to vehicle or rider. He could go to sleep strapped in and the bike would bring him literally all the way home and wake him up when it got there at this point and he would never feel the journey in his slumber.

For this journey early in the day coming from the city he was wide awake and enjoying the blur of the passing scenery in his periphery. On the back of the bike was a package of armaments he was delivering to someone that included the basics a traveler might have hiking the wilds of the realms on this continent. The journey the fellow had taken this far to the rendezvous point had been through mostly tame if not developed regions of low rolling hill forests and farmland. The cartographer had taken the basics of a general hiker and mapmaker before he left the city, but also had measurements and fittings taken before he left for items of more use later on in his commission. The journeyman had prepaid most of this before he left the city of RhyDin, but partial payment due for this part of the commission was asked to be pickup of these and concluding payments of the items upon completion to be delivered in time before he would really need them.

The items included mostly a sword, a dagger, bow with a set of arrows in quivers, bracers, and a chain mail shirt along with a silver amulet he had thrown in as a bonus to help protect the cartographer in his near future journeys. It wasn’t like the man was going into war and preparing to join the army, but enough of the basics to help fend of brigands and wild beasts was smart to have at the minimum. The cartographer had been a city slicker and not needed such items before, but out beyond the city walls they were as necessary as food and proper attire for the weather. At a point along the barely noticeable anymore road that might take most travelers on horseback three full days of normal travel to reach he turned right off the road to head east over otherwise nondescript land with no discernable pathway to follow. Right before him at the apex of his vision to the fore was the bulge of the southern edge of the mountain range with his left side of his vision looking at mountain ranges while the right side of his vision saw rolling hill forests and the open sky. The sun not yet set but behind the mountains from his perspective in shadow while the city to the south still was bathed in light. He could not yet see the hole in the hill where water sprang forth to fall below into the newer fresh growth forest. What he would come to know as Bane Hot Springs was less than an hour away now by bike, and he would complete his delivery while getting his first maps.