When Rahz and his father joined the team everybody turned to look at Rahz's gear. It was top of the line Barbarian swag, everybody tried pulling some connections with Chief Cerdic to get their hands on one of the furs from the Evolve Kobolds but nobody could compete with the top dogs. The Rock Thrower's Fur went to Bhirl and the other one was being wore right in front of their eyes.
Rahz had his Kobold head hoodie up but everyone could see his grinning face underneath. He knew his fur overcoat with hoodie was sensational and he had that itchy feeling of not being able to show off ever since the awakening weapon presents 4 years before.
"What's up guys? Ready for the trip?"
The rest of the guys didn't even answer his question and just walk up to him and started taking a closer look at the fur.
"Not bad Rahz, not bad at all"
After exchanging greetings, the leaders of the trade party started to go over the rules for the trip. The leaders instructed on particular traps to watch out for during trading so that the trainees could avoid being rip off and get con into a fight with people that were outside their capabilities.
The Leaders of the squad had been making the trading trip for many years and they themselves had fallen victims to pick pocketing and losing trades.
"If you are not sure that something is a good trade, you are welcome to ask master Rhaen for help. He has helped the village with difficult trades in the past"
Rahz couldn't help but nod his head a few times when he heard the teachers giving pointers as they were the exact same things his mother told him before leaving.
Rahz couldn't contained his excitement at the amazing things he would be able to taste but more than anything he knew that his real purpose was to gather the kills required for his evolution.
The caravan consisted of 10 people total. There were 2 groups let by recently evolve scouts and the rest were pre-evolution fighters just like Rahz, 2 teachers and Rahz's father added to the mix. The cart filled with goods was being pulled by a couple of Level 8 bears belonging to Beastlords in the village and all the commodities were covered by a leather blanket.
From the village of Helgahvall to the nearest town without rushing along the way, it would take approximately 2 weeks of traveling time but the roads were considerably safe. There were a couple evolve creatures deep inside the forest but they usually never attack such a strong group of fighters.
The only real challenge would be the small groups of bandits during their second half of the trip that claimed a small tax from the group but usually left them alone. The village usually traded every six months when the weather allowed them to travel so they usually didn't know what changes had happened during the time they were absent.
The first half of the trip was uneventful and the group got to taste the amazing BBQ skills of Rahz in many occasions but the weird thing was watching father and son clean their weapons while seating by the fire almost at the same time.
Before the start of the day Rahz did his morning exercise that help him increased his strength little by little. He barely had a week to get used to the weight of his new Axe and there was nothing better but to train with it.
Very quickly a week went by and the caravan was a little over half way there when they encountered the first set of bandits. The moment the bandits saw Rahz and his group from the distance they were excited as their wait might have paid off and the goods coming their way might provide woman and alcohol for a few days.
Rhaen and the other 2 teachers noticed the scouts observing them but they didn't mind them. It was obvious that their skills were pretty poor and their levels not that high, even in the town of Willowdale a Level 24 fighter was considered an expert not to be mess with.
The closer the caravan got, the bigger the smiled on the bandit faces, but all smiles stopped the moment the scouts came back to report that there was only one cart being pull by a couple of bears and that there was nothing but copper and low level pelts in it.
Hearing this piece of news didn't discourage the leader of the bandits.
"Mosquito meat is still meat, don't you think so Boys?"
Cheers!!!
Only an old dwarf that was standing at the back of the group was not so quick to cheer at the statements of his hotshot leader.
The Dark Blade was an organization that was started 3 years before by a mysterious individual that united all the bandits in the area under the same banner. The rules of the organization were pretty simple if somebody wanted to move up the ladder they need it to buy the position with money, it didn't matter were it came from. At the same time the benefits of the positions were a lot better and they were protected by the leader of the gang in case somebody wanted to take the spot by force.
With this new rules in which anybody could ascent to a higher position and enjoyed money and power really spark a new era in the organization. In the last six months the leader of this particular group had been determined to move up the rankings and to do that he need it money. He was the nephew of one of the higher ups and this was a test by his uncle to see if he had what it took to make it.
He received 19 bandits from his uncle plus the veteran Dwarf that had been stealing goods from caravans for a long time. There were 3 retention points in the road to Willowdale and the stronger groups always owned better trading routes so they always got richer while new comers had to pay their dues stealing in lesser populated roads or they could join a previously established squad.
The Old Dwarf had been in the bandit business for a long time and experience told him that there were very few people that use bears to pull a cart and judging by the direction where it was coming from only Barbarians or Orcs met the criteria.
The dwarf prayed that the group coming their way was made out of Barbarians and that it was not an Orc Caravan. The reason for this was simple, you could speak to a Barbarian but if they wanted to take something from an Orc even if it was the dirt on their shoes, it had to be done over his death body.
As soon as the caravan came into view the dwarf cheered after seeing the tall human like group slowly approaching. He moved closer to the leader and whispered what he knew about Barbarians and that he should only take a little bit as the goods were not worth that much and if a fight were to ensue the loses would be disastrous.
The leader felt indignant at having to compromise with a bunch of country bumpkins when they had the advantage in numbers but he still decided to play along. He knew that the dwarf was a veteran and was placed in his team by his uncle only to help him understand the region a bit more.
STOP!!
The Helgahvall caravan stopped and one of the trainers stepped forward and said, " Hello friends! We hailed from Helgahvall village to the north and are heading towards Willowdale town to trade our wares, if you are interested in copper or pre-evolution pelts we can give you a good price"
HA HA HA!!
Some of the bandits laughed at the words spoken by the Barbarian but the young leader quickly calmed them down.
"The Roads to Willowdale town are becoming more and more dangerous this days friends, we are are here to collect a protection fee. One of those bags of copper will guarantee safe passage through this zone".
The Barbarian that was acting as the representative of Rahz's group look back at Rhaen who gave him a nod accepting the terms of the bandits.
The trainer moved back and grabbed a sack full of copper ore and gave it to one of the bandits to take to his leader and said, " Helgahvall village thanks you for your help in this trouble times".
After checking the the contents of the sack, the leader gave the signal to his subordinates to move out of the way and let the group passed. Rahz and the group started moving forward once again and passed through the bandits in a very relax matter thinking the issue had been resolve without much of a problem.
Wait!!
The caravan stopped and turned to see what the call was about and found out that the leader was the one that had something to say.
"If you want to pass I also need that young man's necklace"
Helgahvall's team turned to look at Rahz and found out that he was in fact wearing a necklace made out of copper and a purple tooth.
"No"
" What did you say?"
"I said NO!!"