"Another one more week and we are gonna get broke, we have yet to get a proper kill and despite our training, our enemies just seemed to outmatch us." Aitana lamented as she and the group gathered around a bonfire in their barrack's open compound. It was a sunny afternoon and the compound was busy with other groups going about their own activities, whether they were eating, repairing their items, or just relaxing, they went about their own activities, meanwhile, Aitana and her crew sat around a circular firepit, recapping their strategies.
"Of course, how can we if we are fighting like pussies! Don't tell me we are seriously outmatched against a bunch of stinky gnolls?" Conrad responded in a brazen and annoyed tone. Zemfina seemed displeased with his response, but she held back her response. "I mean come on, how do you expect us to fight if we aren't taking the risk to even scratch our enemies?? We have only been fighting gnolls, how are we not able to learn their patterns already?!" Conrad continued his rant as the others seem to take his point into consideration, but Zemfina didn't.
"Sure, you demonstrated such bravery by standing at the back of the formation. Truly the bravest risk taker among us all.", Zemfina sarcastically responded to Conrad's comment, which got a rise out of Conrad, as his face turned visibly red, while the ladies laughed at her response, Kadungon and Diacrao on the other hand just retained a fairly neutral expression, but Diacrao simply gave a smirk at the response.
"Oh quit it, huntress, I am a rogue, what do you expect? take on the big guy all by myself? I strike from the back and from spots they can't see nor predict! meanwhile, all you do is take pea shots from a distance, and even then you still can't even kill nobody?!? You are pathetic!" Conrad blasted at Zemfina by hurling the aforementioned comment, to which the calm woman only responded with; "And yet I manage to hurt them more than you ever could."; a response that caused Conrad to choke with rage.
"Oh yeah, how abo-"; "Calm down guys! we are the same team, so let's not get ahead of ourselves alright?" Chiasoka, who sat in between the heated pair, intervened and attempted to stop the conflict from escalating, which the attempt worked, for now, but Conrad still remained visibly annoyed, meanwhile, Zemfina did not pay mind to her angered comrade. "Thanks, Chia," Zemfina said softly.
"Conrad is right, but all of us can't take the same risk, I mean as the battlemage of the party, I can't rush to the frontlines. I support from a distance." Chiasoka added her input to the discussion, sharing her point of view on the topic at hand. "And we should not forget to protect our healer, Aitana, if she gets incapacitated we are gonna be in a really bad spot." She continued.
"Chia is right. Not all of us can be on the frontlines. While I can fight melee combat, I am suited for range combat. I try making my pea shots count from a distance." Zemfina said as she made a snarky reference to the rogue's comment on her archery skills. "Besides, I have other functions other than combat, I can trek and scout ahead as well, which I should do more often now." She added as Aitana nodded her head and replied; "That would be great, but it would be risky for you to scout alone, you would need someone to accompany you, but we can discuss that later."
"Permission to speak?" Diacrao asked as he raised his hands. "You can talk without raising your hand y'know?" Aitana replied as she accepted his request to speak. "Sorry, force of habit. Anyways, I think we lack strategy and coordination on the battlefield, most of the time, we have been fighting like a rag-tag group." Diacrao placed his opinion among his crew.
"Could you go in a little deeper?" Conrad asked him to elaborate on the topic further. "I don't know, I just feel like we just dive in without a plan." He ended his comment.
"Hm, you are right Diacrao, we seem to just jump in rather than coming up with a plan on who does what. This leads our group to be disorganized and leaves us exposed, which is dangerous for any groups we have been fighting. It's even more dangerous if we are up against a much more organized set of enemies." Aitana agreed with his comments before she added; "Diacrao, as our swordsman, I know defense might not be your main focus, but you would have to be our rearguard when Kadungon is occupied. Can we trust you with that role?" Aitana asked him, to which he nodded his head and responded with a "yes".
"I don't get it," Conrad said out of the blue. "Why are you a swordsman? why is it even a thing? Wouldn't you be better off as a warrior?" Conrad asked Diacrao, puzzled at his choice selection. "Well, we swordsmen follow a different set of military discipline, different from that of the warrior, and we focus entirely on perfecting our techniques with the sword. If I keep up with the training, I might be elevated to a Blademaster." Diacrao responded with brief information about his class.
"Ooookay.....pretty quirky if you ask me," Conrad exclaimed as Diacrao gave a quick laugh at his response. "Indeed." He replied. "Say, don't you have any thoughts on the topic Kadungon?" Diacrao asked the big guy who was sitting beside him quietly, realizing that Kadungon hasn't even said a word yet.
"Oh yeah!! Kadungon, we would like to hear your thoughts! You are our warrior and our muscle after all!" Chiasoka leaned in, encouraging him to share his input. "Well....I have nothing to share, as the tank of the group I think I should be in the front." He replied briefly. "Of course, but we would still need to support you, you are our shield after all," Aitana said as she took a sip from a wooden cup that was filled with water. "I think that should be it for combat, yeah? Now let's get on with our finances."
"Hey I got the news in that regard, we are still poor!" Conrad sarcastically said before Zemfina gave a kick on his leg. "Ouch! why you-" Conrad winced as he got up before Chiasoka got up and calmed him down. "Well...I am down with four silver left. With this week's training, food, and other expenses, I might be down with two silver or less next week." Diacrao shared the details of his financial account, followed by each of the members, who share a similar situation with the male, being down with little silver.
"Oh god, even with our silvers combined we could not afford proper armor sets," Zemfina complained after finding out about the total amount which summed up to 25 Silver. "Oh this is not good....we are gonna be really broke if we keep this up...we might not even be able to pay for our training." Aitana let out her concern to the team as she is now visibly pressured by their poor financial situation. "No shit! and we would not be able to afford new clothes or even food!" Conrad responded on the topic in a similar vein.
"Well, I suggest we should start with our training today and get some good rest after that. Tomorrow we shall try our best and hopefully, get a good kill." Chiasoka suggested her idea to the rest of her party members. "Good idea, don't wanna disappoint old man Kondo by running late," Conrad said as he got up. "Strict with discipline huh? well yeah, same, I don't wanna face my teacher's wrath too." Diacrao responded as he got up as well.
"It is great to have this discussion guys, good luck, and do your best today!" Aitana said as she got up, followed by the rest of the party before they parted ways and head to their respective paths. Today was a training day for each party member to learn and get stronger, tomorrow would be the day where they would test their mettle with the outside world, again.