Danor walked over to his pack. He suited up in his best outfit, hoping to impress his prospective employers. It was less comfortable than he remembered but he figured it was probably due to his increase in size. A quick breakfast was made from his remaining travel rations before Danor headed downstairs. The ground floor was fairly empty except for a few patrons having their morning meals and the halfling from the night before wiping down bar.
The city was bustling once Danor entered the merchant district. Humans, halflings, dwarfs and the occasional elf were all rushing about organizing things, crafting items for sale or arguing about prices. Every now and then Daron would see an orc pulling a cart full of wares or carrying heavy objects. Realizing he didn't know where he was going, Danor asked a passing guard for directions and began following the river that ran through town up stream. Along the docks were many more orcs, loading and unloading heavy freight and mostly performing manual labor, occasionally being yelled at by someone to work faster.
After half an hour he made it to the upper class district. Here all the finely dressed citizens about their day at a far more casual pace, taking time to stop and have a polite chat. The streets were much cleaner and there was not a single orc in sight. Danor expected to feel much more at ease here as the formality was very similar to the life he lived back in Ashbrook, however for some reason he was on edge. He chalked it up to nerves about asking for a new job and pushed it out of his mind. Eventually found the building with a large painted wooden sign over the door reading what looked like "Whitcut and Gembuckle Moneylenders" in overtly flowing writing. A piece of parchment was stuck to the window, it took Danor a while to decipher the script but he managed to sound out "Help wanted, inquire within".
After taking a deep breath he pushed open the door and heard yelling over the jingling bell hanging over the door frame. Stepping through revealed an interior well lit by the translucent, barred windows. Though warmly illuminated, the room felt cold and sterile, with bare walls and plain cabinets and shelves filled with ledgers. Danor headed towards the back of the room to the wooden desk partially blocked by a portly well dressed but disheveled man.
"Please Mr Gembuckle, I need another month! I'll have the gold I swear!"
"I'm sorry Mr Softbough, but we had an agreement." came a dry voice from the other side of the table "If we don't receive your payment by the end of the month your home will be forfeit"
"No! You can't" cried the man "Please, where will I live?"
"I'm sure you can find somewhere affordable on the south side of town" Gembuckle stated indifferently "I think we are done here, Gob, please escort this gentleman out."
Danor was startled by the heavy footfalls behind him. He was so distracted by the scene in front of him he had walked right past the smartly dressed orc when he entered. The orc grabbed the man by the shoulders and started dragging him to the door as his continued pleading fell on deaf ears. The man was forcibly shoved outside and the door slammed behind him. The orc moved back to stand next to the door with his arms crossed. The sound of a throat clearing brought his attention back behind him. He turned around to see variously sized scales. books and calculating implements all neatly arranged on the desk, behind which sat a wrinkled, gray haired man.
"Sorry you had to see that Mr...?" The man waited expectantly.
"Cloudbuck, Danor Cloudbuck." Danor introduced.
"Pleasure to meet you Mr Cloudbuck, I am Phindel Gembuckle" he droned, "How can I help you today?"
"I'm here to apply for the job opening" Danor responded.
Mr Gembuckle eyed Danor's body up and down over his eyeglasses. "Well you certainly look like you can handle yourself, have you had previous experience as a debt collector or enforcer of sorts?"
Danor paused for a second to process what was said before he answered "No Mr Gembuckle, I heard there is an opening for a clerk. I've been a book keeper and scribe for my family's company for over a decade."
"Oh my apologies Mr Cloudbuck," he replied, with a raised eyebrow. He shuffled some books around before continuing "Well lets see what you can do, total up this page and cross check the information with this ledger. You may use that desk in the corner." Two large ledgers were dropped in front of Danor. He picked them up and moved over to a table in the corner with writing and calculating implements.
He figured this would be easy, it was the type of thing he did all the time back home but upon looking at the pages he encountered a problem. The handwriting on the page all appeared to be jumbles and scribbles. When he strained his mind to concentrate he was able to make out some of the numbers and letters. Slowly he attempted to add up what he could read but for some reason the sums that usually came so easily were causing him to struggle. He ended up relying on the abacus much more than he usually would for simple calculations. When he attempted to write out his workings, he once again found his mind unresponsive unless he forced himself to concentrate. He figured he was frozen from his nerves. It was very slow going for the next half hour before Mr Gembuckle walked over and looked at his work. He scanned the ledger up and down, shaking his head and tutting. Danor hung his head in shame.
"I'm sorry Mr Cloudbuck, it doesn't look like you're cut out to be our new clerk." he drawled "However if you would like to apply to be a debt collector, I suggest you speak to my partner Mr Whitcut when he returns. It doesn't pay as much but we could use a man of your physique, and orcs can be so untrustworthy."
There was a brief grunt from the direction of the door.
"Did you say something Gob?" Gembuckle warned as his finger hovered over a small tablet etched with runes attached to his belt.
"No master" The orc gulped with his eyes to the floor.
"Good," he said, withdrawing his hand, "Now Mr Cloudbuck, what say you?"