We stepped out into the Tower Hub, looking around. It was crowded like always. Lots of different races, most segregated by race. We were one of the rare ones that were different species. I saw the two goat people from the other day and a race I hadn’t seen yet. It was tall, at least eight feet, heavily muscled. The legs ended in thick hooves that clopped across the solid floor of the Tower Hub. Leather kilt, with just a shoulder strap across its broad chest. The whole being was covered in a thin coat of light brown fur. There were a couple of spots of white fur scattered across the body. The being’s head was that of a horse, with long black hair running down its back, the top sticking up high in a mohawk. Over its shoulder the horseman had a very large bow and quiver, a hammer hanging from a hook on his wide belt.

  It looked down at us as it walked past, nodding. I returned the nod.

  “Don’t see one of the Equus often,” Sunie said. “They’re an older faction, the Rolling Plains Of Carock Coalition I believe.”

  “Why don’t you see them often?”

  “Not sure. I heard they got into a losing conflict with the Anibus Federation, another older faction. The Anibus are one of the usual employers of the Anura.”

  “Oh? Think they’re the ones that set that one up for the beating?”

  “Probably.”

  I added the name to the growing list of factions for Tammy to start researching. She would be so thrilled. But no way would I do the research myself.

  “Head back to your shop and divide up the loot?” Sunie asked as we walked to the obelisk.

  “Why my shop? Why not the Formations?”

  “Too busy and too many that’ll be interested,” Sunie replied with a shrug. “I’d rather see what stuff is worth before giving part of my cut to the Formation.”

  “Do they tax you a lot?”

  “Not too bad, but if we go through it in front of the merchants, they’ll know exactly what I have.”

  “Got ya. I’ll need to remember that when my people start running the tower.”

  Sunie stopped, staring at me. I turned back with a large smile. He shook his head.

  “It’s too easy to forget you’re a faction leader.”

  I chuckled.

  “I’m fine if my people keep the best stuff for themselves.”

  I touched the obelisk, turning in the dungeon quest.

  “Grab another one for tomorrow?”

  “Sure.”

  I picked another group Dungeon called the Cascading Hills, which was a weird one for a biome called the Endless Plains. On the way back to the entrance from the dungeon, we’d managed to progress on the other quests, killing some more bounders and finding some clumps of the Crystal Grass Stalks. The Endless Plains had a lot of stuff we still needed to find.

  Sunie and I made our way out of the Tower Hub, taking the portal to the Market District. We headed down the street passing a lot of other shops. He looked at some of the shops as we walked.

  “It’s been awhile since I’ve been out in the Market District,” he said, stopping in front of one of the Dwarf shops.

  At least I thought they were Dwarves. Sure looked like Dwarves. The building was a small mountain set back from the street. A mine entrance led inside, with balconies carved out of it on the higher levels. The whole thing sloped to a jagged and snow covered top, where I could see a couple of Dwarves sitting down, legs dangling over the edge, watching us. Two stalls made out of a dark metal were on either side of the mine entrance, facing each other. There was space for a couple people to stand, looking at the array of goods in the stalls.

  Sunie was doing just that. He picked up a sword, examining the balance. I moved over to the other stall, which had some shields and hammers. I picked up one of the hammers. A long shafted thing with a smaller head, a spike on the other side. I held it by the end. The thing had good balance and decent weight. I could do some damage with it.

  “Ye donae look like a hammersman,” the dwarf behind the stall said.

  He had that thick scottish accent that I’d always imagined dwarves having. Standing about four feet tall, the guy was all muscle. Thick arms, legs, chest. He wore a leather apron over wool clothes, at least what looked like leather and wool. Who knew what material they really were. Burn scars covered his bare arms. Thick blond hair and beard covered his head, only his large nose visible, eyes hidden by bushy brows. The bear hung past his waist, thickly braided with beads interwoven. Two more braids were in his hair, hanging over his shoulders, the rest down his back.

  I pulled one of my smaller hammers out of my inventory. What I could see of his eyes raised as he looked at it. I held it out for the dwarf to examine. He took it, nodding.

  “Decent work,” he said, stepping back and giving it a few swings. “Good balance.”

  He handed it back, I twirled the weapon and made it disappear.

  “Need ta get up close and personal wit’ that wee hammer,” he said, chuckling.

  I laughed.

  “That’s typically how I fight.”

  “Hhmm,” he said, large finger playing with one of his braids. “Ye a pugilist, I take it?”

  “Yep, I like to punch things.”

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  He laughed, studying me.

  “Yer from that new world aren’t ye? The one making all o’ them waves?”

  “Yeah, I think that’s me,” I said shrugging, wondering where this was going. “Didn’t think I was making that many waves.”

  The dwarf laughed. It was deep and boisterous. Full of life.

  “Donobar Greyboulder,” he said, holding a hand out.

  “Nick Howell,” I replied, clasping it in the warrior shake.

  His grip was strong, so I made sure mine was just as strong. He looked impressed as he released my hand.

  “Pleasure to meet ye Nick Howell. Ye be wanting to upgrade that wee hammer o’ yers, ye come on back and ask fer me, ye hear?”

  “I will, thanks,” I said, joining Sunie back on the street.

  We started walking back down toward my Clan’s shop.

  “Didn’t find anything you liked?” I asked.

  “There were a couple swords that might be upgrades,” he said. “But I’d need to make sure we have nothing equivalent in the Formation’s vault and then see if there’s a trade deal in place with that Clan or if we have one with another Clan.”

  “You can’t just buy something whenever you want?”

  Sunie laughed.

  “Nope. With as many trade deals as the Formation has, I need to make sure I’m buying from the right sources. I’d be in trouble if I disrupted any deals.”

  “That sounds like a nightmare.”

  “Why do you think it’s been so long since I’ve been to the Market District? It’s really not that bad. The Formation gets me everything I need and for far cheaper than buying from anywhere here, but sometimes there is better stuff available,” he said, looking back at the stalls.

  I thought about what he said and could understand it, from both sides. It was frustrating to be limited in what could purchase but at the same time I could see why the Sunrise Formation would want to protect their connections with their trade partners. One Adventurer buying from a non-pact partner might not cause ripples, but then again it could. Some of these factions had to be pretty protective about their trade deals.

  It was something I’d have to worry about. Fields and Tammy were in charge of the trade deals. I’d have to constantly review with them whenever I wanted to buy something. We’d need to make sure any new Adventurers coming to Crossroads would follow the same rules.

  Why did everything have to be so complicated?

  I felt a couple pairs of eyes on me and turned, seeing a group of the horned humans walking past. I couldn’t be sure if the entire group was the same I’d seen before, but the woman looking at me definitely was. She was gorgeous. Light purple skin, long tail, piercing blue eyes and black hair. The horns were a little weird, but they were small and kind of cute. The tattoo under her eye was interesting.

  She caught me looking and smiled, so I smiled back. The man next to her, a couple inches taller, caught us looking at each other, grumbled something to her. She turned to him, snapping. He grumbled again, she snapped again, and they kept walking. She gave me one last glance before they entered a shop.

  “Friend of yours?” Sunie asked.

  “No, but she’s been checking me out a couple times now.”

  “They’re the Tief race. Not sure which Faction. There’s three, maybe four of them, in the Nexus. All from the same planet. And no, I don’t know the name. Jeriyan would probably know more.”

  “Not that big a deal,” I said.

  “She’s pretty though.”

  “That she is,” I replied, chuckling.

  We reached the end of the street, the shops around us getting less grand and smaller. There were less people. By the time we reached my shop, there was no one walking the streets.

  “Here we are,” I said, pointing at it.

  Sunie looked at my shop, which was small but looked pretty good I thought, and then at some of the others further down the street.

  “First chance you get,” he said. “Upgrade and move.”

  “That’s one of the plans,” I said. “I’m really leaving all that up to a couple associates. It’s not the stuff I’m good at. I just like to…”

  “Punch things,” he finished for me.

  I laughed as we walked inside. The shelves were fuller than the other day when I’d been in. There were no customers and only Tammy standing behind the counter. She had a couple notebooks out and was busy making notations, glancing up as we walked in. She pretty much ignored me, looking at Sunie.

  “Nick, you didn’t tell me that we’d be having company?” she said, smoothing her hair and dress.

  “Yes Nick,” Sunie said, looking at her. “Why didn’t you tell the lovely lady that?”

  I looked from one to the other and sighed.

  “Ugh,” I grumbled, leading Sunie toward the counter. “Tammy O’Neil you remember Sunie Teralei, right? From the meeting at the Sunrise Formation’s restaurant?”

  “Hello,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

  At least he didn’t try to kiss it.

  “Pleasure to see you again too,” she said. “So you’re going to be Nick’s new adventuring partner?”

  “I guess so.”

  “I hope he doesn’t get you killed.”

  “Hey,” I said, pretending to be offended. “If anyone’s getting anyone killed it’ll be him. All he does is throw snowballs.”

  “And you just punch things,” Tammy said, rolling her eyes.

  “Which I’m very good at,” I replied, shifting Tammy’s notebooks, which earned a glare from her.

  “I was working here,” she muttered.

  “Yes, but now it’s time to show off some loot. Is Mike around?”

  “No, he went back to Solacetown.”

  “Oh well, he’ll get to see it later,” I said and started pulling out what we’d gotten.