"I got a magic dagger." Dominic offered while taking it out of his storage cube to show the team leader.
"Not bad. We can always use more magical weapons. How do you feel about a trade?" The team leader asked.
"Yeah, I got an armour drop, but it is only really good for ladies or magic types. It's also a common magic item, so the values are equivalent, but I see that you're using ordinary armour with an excellent magical dagger and sword." He offered.
"I would feel better with some magic armour, even if the drops from the Goblins tend to look pretty shabby." Dominic chuckled as he handed him the dagger.
"You're right about that. The monster blessing does have a strange sense of aesthetics when it comes to Goblin dropped loot. If we were a bit higher level, we could head out into the hills and join the guards there, but level ten on both your primary attack and defence gems is the minimum, since they get level twelve and fifteen ogre clans.
You might be fast enough to run off, but at our level as warriors, we would just get squished." One of the guards laughed.
Dominic smiled at them and shrugged. "It's a gift. Unlike the warriors who solve everything with brute strength, I'm much happier when things die WAY over there."
The guard laughed as he passed over the pile of cloth, which Dominic examined carefully to see if it was going to be worth equipping. The Guard had said it was mostly for women and mages, which was a touch insulting. But he was a magic user from their point of view.
What he got was a somewhat tattered black mage robe that could be worn over his existing leather pants, decorated with simple magical runes along the edges, and a simple cloth harness to carry potions and weapons on, should you prefer not to keep them in storage.
Paired with his long leather coat and the brass cog work down the sleeves, he actually looked like a normal travelling mage, and he no longer needed to keep the stifling coat closed to keep the battered state of his combat gear from embarrassing him in public.
The Mage Robes looked like they were in rough shape, but they were magical, and that made them immediately better fashion than what he had in the eyes of the Guards and most others.
"I like it. It's comfortable, not too heavy, not too breezy. Plus, it's got some decent armour increase magic on it." Dominic informed them with a smile.
Not a lot of increase, but as a Common Grade magical item, that was to be expected. Still, it was better than what he had, and now he was more comfortable in the summer heat.
"Alright, let's get a move on. If there's one raiding camp, there's got to be more. How is everyone on mana and healing?" Wiz called out to the group.
"We're all good when the cleric is, boss man." One of the guards called back.
Wiz's attention turned to the Cleric, whose weathered face wrinkled as he smiled back at him.
"I'm back over three quarters of my mana. That fight went remarkably smoothly with two extra ranged attackers. Lead the way, and let's try to create an incident free day for the caravans."
Wiz picked up on the trails of more goblins right from the edge of the camp, and led the group further into the woods, back toward the city.
The guards weren't as loud as Dominic had expected, given their heavy armour, and it was only a few minutes before the sound of combat alerted the group that there was an attack on the road.
Wiz and the guard team moved with well practised efficiency, nearly leaving Dominic and Bella behind as they shifted position to rush forward. The two ranged fighters ran along behind the group, keeping the Cleric safely in the middle of the formation while the warriors crashed into the goblin's backs.
Dominic picked off the goblins who were going for the caravan instead of the guards, while Bella targeted any spot where the goblins outnumbered the defenders. With the additional forces, the fight was over in seconds. The goblins didn't have the tactical knowledge to fight while surrounded, and once their backs were exposed, it was a simple matter to dispose of them.
The Cleric and Wiz both moved through the caravan guards as the last of the goblins were eliminated, healing the injured, and making sure that the vehicles would be able to go on.
This caravan was a bit different from the one that Dominic had been employed by, they didn't use the steam trucks, they used a row of magitech steam powered tractors, each pulling a pair of trailers. The setup held a remarkable amount of cargo, but looking at the design, it was much better suited to good roads or soft fields than the bumpy and rutted back roads to the village.
Once the trailers were stuck in the mud, even the steel spikes of the tractor wheels would struggle to pull them out, he assumed. But, the merchants looked to be fairly well-off, and the guard team was higher level, so maybe he was wrong, and those tractors were more capable than he gave them credit for.
The caravan leader bowed to Wiz and the team leader. "Thanks for your assistance, the trucks are almost good to go, just a few repairs to make and we will be on our way. One of the pushrods was damaged in the attack, we just need to get it back on and that's the worst of it."
Dominic jogged over to where an aging dwarf was glaring at the mangled metal beam and the snapped bolt that should have held it to the input shaft for the axle. This was a great chance to learn a bit more about vehicle repair, which seemed to be a pretty lucrative trade for a travelling blacksmith.
"Need a hand?" He asked.
"You know anything about steel?" The dwarf retorted, inspecting Dominic through a brass framed monocle.
"Enough to know that's not made of steel, and that it will soften up real nice in my travel forge if you've got a good oil to temper it back up to standards in afterwards." Dominic replied.
"Thorin, son of Domar, Thane of Graska." The dwarf introduced himself, extending his hand for a handshake.
"Dominic Wavemates, apprentice of Pops, from Cygnia City." He replied.
The dwarf burst into laughter, then looked at his serious expression and began to laugh even harder.
"Boy, I wouldn't go telling people that if I were you. They'll put you right to work when they find out." Thorin chortled.
He pointed back to the middle of the caravan, the usual spot for the caravan's smithy carriage, and then continued. "Get that arm pulled, and I'll get the forge ready. I've got a spare spindle bolt, so we won't need to make one of them today."
Dominic double-checked that the team wasn't going to leave him behind, but it looked like the caravan guards were taking out the soup pots, so they should have an hour to get the tractors in working order before the food was ready.
Normally, they wouldn't cook while they were on the road, they would eat something cold and simple, but as they weren't going anywhere anyhow, there was no harm in it, other than the smell of cooking food.
One swat with the hammer and chisel had the nut loosened on the front of the shaft, and then Dominic realized that he was going to have a small problem. The beam weighed well over sixty kilos, and he could barely carry the weight in both arms, but to get it repaired, he would have to lift it into the forge trailer.
It was a bit of a depressing reminder that his body was still in the growth phase, even after his twentieth birthday, but he wasn't going to let that get him down. Given time, he would get his strength up to a more reasonable standard.
"I don't suppose I can borrow one of you fine gentlemen for a moment. This thing is surprisingly heavy." He asked with a sigh.
"Of course. Jack, John, grab an end and bring that beam to Thorin. He should have the forge hot by now." The caravan boss shouted to a pair of his larger members.
Dominic gave one last swing of the hammer to knock the damaged spindle bolt out of its hole, and then followed them to the forge. A bit of observation would go a long way to teaching him about how the experienced dwarves would fix a bend like that without weakening the metal.