Party Quest - Free Vern accepted.
James jumped to his feet and ran out to the cage where Vern was supposed to be.
She was exactly where he’d left her.
He opened the party chat to see that both Ken and Edward were in the process of writing messages.
Janine was still listed and chimed in first.
Janine:
Edward:
James:
Janine:
Edward:
Ken:
The chat went silent.
James went to ask questions then realised it may be something to do with Ken’s seers quest. .
While deliberating on what to say Janine arrived. She’d changed back into her usual guild attire. He searched his feelings and realised he was slightly disappointed at that.
Edward came running, Nathan in tow.
Ken was only moments behind.
When Ken came close James noticed the scent of incense on his clothes, even in the midst of all the animal smells. It must have been strong.
Nathan spoke first. “Why’s such a mighty beast caged… and alive?”
James turned to him.
“Actually, she was appropriated by Janine as part of a guild quest to retrieve goods stolen from the Guild by Darneath and his crew. I was helping with the quest to return the goods to the guild. I saw an opportunity and bought her at a discounted price. Only seven hundred gold!”
“Congratulations. That’s a mighty bargain. She’ll be worth far more than you paid once she’s fully bonded,” Nathan continued. “Uhhh, Edward, why are we here?”
Ken simply said “Seers quest”
Understanding crossed everyone’s faces.
Janine and Nathan almost spoke simultaneously. “Right, what do you need”
Ken spoke in a hushed voice. “I have two quest markers. One is Vern, the other is the dungeon.”
James checked the quest in his Quest tab.
Quest: Free Vern
Participants: Location:Threat Level:Reward:
“There’s nothing like that on my quest. Mostly it says unknown and to talk to you.”
He got looks from everyone that said ‘it’s a seers quest, duh’.
James made Ken the party leader.
Edward spoke, “Yes James. This is now Ken’s show.”
Ken didn’t look uncomfortable with everyone waiting on his next words. It really was his show.
After a few moments Ken said, “I think for now, we need to release Vern from the cage, and get her to the Dungeon.”
James only just now realised he didn’t have a key for the cage.
“Uh, Janine. Do you have the key to Vern’s cage?”
“No, James.”
Edward pulled out a hammer and made a strike at the lock.
James was surprised when everyone, Janine included, just let Edward go at the lock.
The lock survived the blows so Edward pulled out a chisel and started working on it.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
One of the burly men from the yard walked over with a pair of bolt cutters and promptly cut the lock off.
“Thanks,” said Edward.
There was only a latch now. Everyone was watching.
James motioned to Ken who unlatched the cage and swung it open.
Nothing happened.
James used a hand command to order Vern out of the cage.
Vern walked, claws ticking against the cage, and hopped down, not even spreading her wings.
Nothing happened.
James released his breath.
All motion returned to the yard.
“Now what?”
Ken responded. “Now we get her to the Dungeon.”
“I don’t get it, are we taking her to the dungeon to get captured so we can free her? Or worse, do you need to kill me to free her from her bonding process?”
Edward shrugged and just said “Seer’s quest,” as if that explained everything.
He’d not forgotten the corpses in his inventory, and did not want to take them with him.
He started a private chat with Janine.
James:
Janine:
James:
Janine:
James:
Janine:
James:
Janine:
James:
Janine:
James:
He jumped into Commander’s Space.
The familiar white noise droned on in the background of his Commander’s Space.
First he updated his deck.
He tried to remove On Bond -> Drake Aspect again but couldn't. James was unsure when it happened, but there was now a lock symbol on the card.
James brought up his Iron-Hide Boar card and pressed on it in approximately the same place as the lock was on Squire’s card.
A new lock appeared, more like a “pin” icon than a padlock. He pressed it again and it vanished. Did that mean the Triggers and/or enhancements would automatically re-apply?
It was not worth testing on Death-Marked and he didn’t really like to needlessly play around with that on his Bonds. It would likely be soon before he found out.
He also had some Drake Essence to spend, especially if he would lose the Aspect once Squire finished consuming it.
He went to the Crafter’s Hall crafting station.
Craft - Consume Essence
Cards flew over to him from the resources board.
- Resource Card – Undead Essence (Rare)
- Resource Card – Drake Essence (Rare)
- Resource Card – Undead Essence (Common)
- Resource Card – Drake Essence (Common)
- Resource Card – Rabbit Essence (Basic)
- Resource Card – Drake Essence (Rare)
He grabbed the Resource Card – Drake Essence (Common)
- Resource Card – Drake Essence (Common)
- Resource Card – Drake Essence (Common)
He pushed one of them into the slot and all the resources returned to their places.
A new card formed, linked to the consuming resources card, with a red light around both.
Consume Essence Time remaining: 1 hour 40 minutes.
He walked into his Inventory space within the hall.
There, as expected, were the corpses he did not want to see.
He emptied pockets, stripped armour, belts, belt pouches, rings, and an amulet, and Tristan’s guild badge.
The pouches contained twenty three gold, thirty nine silver, and nineteen copper.
He then did the same thing for the nameless mercenary. He got a surprising number of daggers, a short sword, and a long sword.
James only now wondered where the mercenaries had kept their backpacks or goods. There was no bedroll, pots and pans, or anything he would expect to find for camping.
He went to leave the Inventory with the gear in his arms, but it wouldn’t let him.
System Notice - Inventory violation.
Huh! That was interesting. He bundled all the items into Tristan’s cloak and tied it like a knapsack, then shoved it into another slot.
He was now able to leave.
James rapidly dropped out of Commander’s Space, ran to a toilet and then vomited up his guts. He promised he would never do that in his Crafter’s Hall Inventory as he may not have been able to leave until he cleaned it all up.
James jogged the last few steps to catch up with the others just as they were passing through the Eastern gates. Thirty minutes, a rather hasty meeting with Kim at the crematory, and a whirlwind shop at the smith had put him behind schedule. It may have been foolish, but, other than the rings, amulet and guild badge, he hadn’t kept anything else of Tristan's.
Joan the smith hadn’t been available, but Ben gave him a decent deal for all the swords, daggers, and extra weapons he’d gotten off the mercenaries.
He had picked up two umbrellas, a new flint and steel, some ball bearings, caltrops, climbing pins, and a cooking pan. He also got a woodsman’s axe, set of knives for skinning and cooking, sharpening stone, and a rune carving beginners kit. All at very reasonable prices. All were now tucked away into his backpack in his inventory.
He’d also saved some time by riding through town on Nimbus. To avoid explanations, James slipped Nimbus into Squire’s Retreat just before the Eastern gates.
Ahead of him, Janine was not-so-quietly explaining to Nathan and the others why James had been missing. Nathan, apparently, would be joining them for this adventure.
“…and then he told me he wanted to give Tristan’s corpse to his son! Can you imagine—” Janine stopped mid-sentence as she finally noticed him. She made an elaborate show of her eyes widening, hand to her chest, the full performance.
James threw Tristan’s badge at her.
She caught it without even trying, giving him a coy, knowing smile.
“Thanks,” she said lightly. Then, after the briefest pause, “Oh, and by the way, Tristan doesn’t have a wife or kids.”
Everyone else laughed.