It was well into the afternoon when Jayce and Jemza finally neared the Southern exit of Urbus. Argo had expressed her desire to eat together and socialize. What neither of them had planned for was two hours of listening to Argo embellish her adventures of writing the guide for the second floor. Mercifully, the pain eventually ended when Argo announced she had other matters to attend to.
The moment they passed through the <<Safe Zone>> of Urbus onto the path leading down the mountain and message window appeared. The first portion of the Thieves Guild quest was complete and they were awarded a hefty amount of experience and col. Enough to push them both to level 11. They both stopped to distribute their stat points and discuss the excitement about how they would get their next skill slot in one more level. For now they looked at the single quest listed in their log. <<The Rose's Thorns>>.
The late afternoon sun spread across the savannah with only a few scarce clouds dotting the sky. After the last few rain showers in Urbus it was a nice change to have such perfect travelling weather. More than once they were able to spot a few of the bull creatures roaming the open fields a good distance away. It felt like forever ago that they had survived the stampede that nearly claimed their lives. So little time had passed since then, but so much had changed.
"Listen, do you have any other clothes by chance?" They were already nearing the hour mark from when they left Urbus. Marome wouldn't be much further so it seemed like the right time for Jayce to bring up his thoughts about what was ahead. Jemza turned her head towards him and nodded.
"Yeah, you mean besides the stuff under my armor? I have a few things. Strange right? It's not like we sweat or have to do laundry, but I have changes of clothes. I feel dirty if I don't wear a different set."
"No, not strange at all. I have a few as well which is good for what I'm thinking. Until we know what we're dealing with we should change. Remove your armor and weapons and change into something more casual. All the NPC's surrounding this guild have been very intelligent. Almost like some advanced form of artificial intelligence. There's a good chance two people in all black, sporting weapons, and looking like Thieves Guild members will scare this guy away."
"You think this quest could be that in depth? Is it even possible for the game to perform that kind of realistic scenario?"
"Did you think a month ago people could get trapped inside a video game?" Jemza held her hands up in defeat.
"Fair point, I understand. Disguising ourselves might not be a bad idea. There's nothing between here and Marome though." She glanced around seeing nothing but open savannah.
"Roads clear and this is all open land so no one can sneak up on us. Just change here quickly." There were absolutely no ulterior motives when he said it, but Jemza's eyes instantly narrowed.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" So much sarcasm in a single sentence shouldn't be possible, but the hand on her hip only added to the clear picture that she wasn't buying into what he said.
"I'm not going to look. Back to back we can both change quickly and move on." He turned so his back was to her and after a few seconds he heard a sigh before she moved behind him.
"We're outside the city; if you peek I'll gut you."
"Duly noted let's hurry." Jayce swiped his menu open and navigated to his inventory. He removed his armor, weapons, and outer clothing waiting for each piece to disappear from his body. Once he was down to his underwear he scrolled through the clothing he had finding a different pair of black pants and a dark green tunic for his top. The whole process only took a few moments and he looked down at himself pleased with the outcome.
"Alright, I'm done." He turned around after hearing her voice to see her wearing a deep red shirt that laced up to just below her neck. A black skirt fluttered in the breeze just above her knees. Her normal boots were replaced with what looked to be hiking boots.
"That's perfect Jemza. Sorry about the sudden request I just don't want to screw this up."
"I know, and it's a good idea. You really didn't peek huh?" Jayce put a hand over his heart and held his other up in front of her.
"I swear I didn't." He was being honest about it. Cheap thrills of stealing a look at her while she changed not only threatened his life, but also went against his respect for her. She smiled patting him on the shoulder as she walked by.
"Hmm. Cause I did." She kept walking south towards Marome leaving him standing with his mouth half open. He shook his head and caught up to her as they continued along the road.
"After this when we go back to Urbus we should also look into upgrading our weapons. We are still only using the base versions of them. We could find a smith and bump them up a few levels. We don't know what's ahead so we should be ready." Jemza listened to him nodding and chuckled lightly as he finished.
"You are really thinking hard about all this aren't you? I'm impressed."
"I just don't want any surprises."
Marome was a small village, as they had anticipated. There didn't even seem to be a smith on site. The buildings that comprised the village were all single story dwellings. The only buildings that were slightly larger looked to be stables or housing for animals. The NPC's who lived in this town all moved about working on various tasks. Some pinned clothing or large sheets to a clothesline to dry while others chopped wood or pushed carts of supplies.
"Afternoon folks." A man pushing a wheelbarrow full of a variety of plants tipped his hat as Jayce and Jemza came close.
"Afternoon sir. Sorry, but what are those?" Jayce looked down into the wheelbarrow and the man set it down taking a few of the plants out and holding them up.
"There's a few herbs and plants that grow outside of town. They work well in poultices and medicine in Urbus so we send them up north." Jayce's eyes seemed to sparkle looking at the plants the man held.
"I don't suppose I could buy some off of you could I?" The man set the plants back into the wheelbarrow laughing.
"Ah, so you're an alchemist eh? Sure, what are you looking for exactly?"
"Great, anything that helps with illnesses, injuries, or mental conditions would be fantastic." Jayce glanced back at Jemza excitedly who put on a smile for his sake. She had no idea what they were talking about, but if he was happy then whatever.
"Here, these and these should work for you. Be careful with the red ones, if you crush them too fast they won't powder properly." A trade window winked into view with a cost associated to the items being offered. Jayce quickly accepted the trade seeing that the cost was less than what the vendor offered in Urbus.
"Thank you very much I appreciate it." The man smiled tipping his hat once more.
"My pleasure, Marome is small, but there's a certain charm to our small home. I assume you and your wife are passing through, but consider staying a bit. We do enjoy visitors and not many come by due to our size." Jemza laughed and opened her mouth, but Jayce quickly stepped in to interrupt her.
"We will. A good friend of ours lives here these days I believe. His name is Kurt Wagner and we were hoping to catch him before we moved on." Jemza took a step back watching curiously as Jayce continued to take the lead.
"Oh sure I know Kurt. He lives just south of the butcher. Quite literally across the street from him. I believe he went out into the fields this morning though and he might not be back until later tonight or possibly tomorrow."
"Then I suppose we might just be staying in Marome after all. We would hate to have come all this way and not say hello." Jayce chuckled and the man nodded.
"We don't have a proper inn, but speak to Daisy. She's just over there. She'll set you up for the night. Let her know Roy sent you." He pointed to one of the homes a short distance away.
"We will. Thank you for the plants and the information it was helpful. Safe travels." Jayce shook the man's hand and watched as he continued on towards the north out of town.
"You're good at this aren't you?" Jemza leaned against his shoulder looking at the town.
"This kind of stuff is easier than what I'm used to. We're hunting another NPC which will have programmed actions. It's all part of the story and quest so it's a bit more relaxing. The real challenge is when your target is another player." She looked up at him oddly as he explained.
"Hunting other players?" Jayce shook his head quickly.
"Not here in SAO. In other non VRMMO games I would love to fight other players. I had wanted to experience that here when the game first released, but things are different now. Killing a player would mean killing them in real life. It's no different than murder so it's important everyone understands that and continues to work together however they can." Jayce corrected his explanation to her. The desire to fight other players had long been forgotten now that the game had become their prison.
"I see, and apparently I'm your wife now?" She continued to look at him from the corner of her eye and he laughed nervously.
"It's a better story than a man and woman travelling together looking for someone in a small town. Anything that makes us seem less suspicious." She thought over his reasoning for a minute before nodding.
"I understand, I can play the part. I must say that your handling of this so far has been very interesting. You know how to act and what to say so that you come off as a plain traveler. I'm really glad you're here with me."
"Well, it only gets tougher now. If Kurt doesn't come back tonight then I suggest we do some looking around. You still have your lock picks from Rose right? If we're lucky his home won't require much skill since neither of us has <<Lock Picking>> and we can get in."
"I still have them. Alright, let's go find Daisy and see about where we'll be staying tonight then." Jemza pushed herself off his shoulder and they both began walking towards the home Roy had pointed them to earlier.
Fifteen minutes later the pair stood in a small room the woman had shown them to. It was attached to her own house which, while not tall, had a bit more space than some of the other homes lengthwise. A single table and chairs sat in one corner of the room along with a dresser. A single decent sized bed was tucked into the far corner of the room, an open window next to it looking out towards the savannah. The two stood in silence for a good while looking at the single bed in the room.
"She said this was all there was?" Jemza asked after the silence became too much.
"Yeah, they don't have an inn so..." Jayce trailed off not really sure how else to answer.
"So, we will be staying in the same room then? With only one bed and nothing else?" She was asking the questions distantly almost like she wasn't fully aware she was speaking.
"That seems to be the current predicament, yes."
"I see...well, I guess it can't be helped. I don't have a problem with it." Jayce looked at her in surprise. He expected her to be upset about the situation, but that didn't seem to be the case at all.
"Are you sure? I can always figure something out so you don't have to worry."
"I'm not worried. Not entirely sure why, but I'm not. We'll make it work." She stepped into the room running her hand over the back of one of the chairs near the table.
"We have a lot to do tonight anyway so it may not even be as big an issue as we think." If they were going to try to break into Kurt's home it would have to be done at night. For all they knew this room might not even be used.
"Let's go over the plan for tonight and get ready to that. We can deal with sleeping arrangements later." Jemza pulled the chair back and brushed her skirt down under her legs as she sat down. Jayce nodded and closed the door behind him moving over to the other chair across from her.
"Alright, sounds good. Let's figure this out."