Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist's Desk

"Everything seems to be in order. Well done! You've already received your monetary reward, and here are your 4 guild points."

 

Spoiler: Pumpkin Replacement

After Aconter took the Quest he headed out into the Forest that was close to Lakeside Village.

He searched for Blueberries and Raspberries, he knew both were edible if cooked.
After some time he found some Blueberries but not enough to bring back to the Inn to be Cooked.

As he was creeping in the Shadows he found something else that caught his attention... a lone wolf which was in turn hunting a rabbit.

It felt kinda strange to see the wolf stalk its prey while it was hunted itself.
What was it again: "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?"
He whispered: "Well let´s help the Rabbit out and play oriole" he chuckles and takes aim whit his bow.

He waited and focused on the arrow on his Bow.
In his prior missions he worked on his Abilities to enhance his Arrows to make them even deadlier and unpredictable.
The Arrow became darker and shady it seemed to twist and wring in the shadow but in truth it did not move it just appears like this to the onlooker.

The Wolf got closer and closer to the Rabbit and took a stance ready to pounce on it, the Rabbit which was still clueless about its imminent death ate some grass/herb on the ground.

The moment the Wolf was ready to pounce Aconter let loose his Arrow, the moment it left his bow it seemed to jump in and out of Existence it reached the wolf in a moment and hit its neck, the Wolf howled at the top of its lungs seemingly in pain.
Blood spurted/splashed out of the wolfs wound it fell and howled until it drew it´s last breath.

The Rabbit ran and hid in the woods.
Aconter laughed out loud at the sight of the rabbit running for its dear live.

He gutted the wolf and took what meat could be cooked with him.

He continued his search for berries until he had enough.
-------------------

After he had enough Berries he went back to town and searched for the "Pumpkin Tie inn"
It took some time to find the in but he did find it in the end.

As he reached the Inn he asked for the Cheff/Owner Torran.
He was asked to wait some time since the Cheff was busy Cooking in the Kitchen.
About 20 minutes later he Arrived.
Torran asked: "What can i do for you ?"
Aconter smiled and said: "Hello Torran, my name is Aconter i am an Adventurer with the Guild and i am here for the Quest you issued. I brought some Ingredients you might like"
Torran invited him in and asked what he brought.

Aconter placed his bag on the Table and put the Wolf meat, Blueberries and Raspberries on plates.
Even though Aconter did not know the exact recipes for these "pies" but he told Torran what he knew about them.

Torran was skeptical about those but he tried them nonetheless.
He and his staff cooked the three dishes and taste tasted them.
The recreated meat pie was well received even though it was not yet something Torran was was satisfied yet he needed better meat for this one.
The Blueberrie-pie was a hit, the staff and Torran.
The Raspberrie-pie did work somehow but Toran was not satisfied with it.
He decided to combine the Blueberrie and Raspberrie in a "Berriepie" that was something Torran was satisfied with.

Torran asked his Guest to also taste test the now two pies if they were to their liking or not.
Most Customer said the "Berriepie" was great but the meat pie needed something else or different meat at least.

As he finished his Quest Torran asked him to take the reminding pies back to the guild.

Spoiler: Notes

Aconter brought back: 1 Blueberrie-pie , 1 Raspberrie-pie, 1 "Berriepie" and 1 Meatpie

Aconter returned to the Guild and placed some pies on the Receptions desk: "I guess the mission was a success. I even brought back the pies we created for the Guild members to eat" he looked at @Lenaia

OOC: I finished my new Skill only need to talk to one of the Staff members about what exactly it does and if it is plausible, i just mentioned it a little in my Quest just now.

 

((Please include the quest prompt in your future reports.))

"Well now. I wish this thing can eat." Catherine's construct tapped its own head. "While I dont think hard to hsrvest berries would make a reliable replacement, I suppose it's fine if the client is happy about it. Your reward is eight large copper coins and four guild points, I'm sure there are many that will want a sample of those pies!"

 

A still slightly blushing Rei made a dash to the receptionist's desk, and handed over the report to the only staff that was working late hours.

Spoiler: Report

"Need any supplies?"

The gourd walked by Rei's side while she scrutinize the quest details. He seemed to be suspiciously similar at where they need to go.


"Hmmm, since it's an escort that will take time I guess dry provisions and water will be enough. I can light fires so no problem there......do I need anything else?"


"We'll spend a day or two there, depending on the workers sent." The gourd lightly said. "There were some big drakes they'd need to process."


"I see...... doesn't change anything on my end I guess.
But before we go I want to make one thing clear-
No teasing, no flirting, and no seducing!
We are going in a quest - a job.
We are going to risk our lives if we are distracted mby other.....things!"


"Sure! I'll just save it up until we're done, do your best!" The gourd patted her shoulder.


Rei grunted as she came to the conclusion that fixing Jack is a hopeless case, and proceeded to the client's location - the craftsman guild hall.
On the way, she initiated a conversation.
"By the way, this quest was triggered by an adventurer who killed lots of drakes in that mine, and as I recall there was a quest for that last week, and a certain SOMEONE was dragging along darklings and selling them at the tavern"
Rei stared at Jack with a knowing smirk.


It was rather obvious, isn't it?" The gourd lightly chuckled. "Quite nice of them, I got paid some hefty fee for telling them about it and now they give another job. Ah, here we are."

It's a decent-sized caravan, eight large carts pulled by two mules each. It carried over twenty people, mostly manual laborers and leatherworkers, but there's an odd alchemist mixed in the group as well as some... more vague professions. Carvers, from their tools? Perhaps to work the bone?

"Heyo, it's me again! We'll be your escort for the next few days! This is Rei, say hi!" The gourd waved at the crowd.



"Hello, I am Jack's friend and a D rank adventurer, call me Rei"

She bowed down a bit as she greeted the caravan before she noticed a familiar face.
"Hmm? aren't you Lyra's apprentice? what are you doing here.......nevermind, you are probably aiming for potion materials from the drake's bodies"
The alchemist boy turned a bit red in the cheeks as he faced Rei and smiled wryly.

"Yes, Lyra ordered me to go and practice my monster material harvesting skills while procuring rare materials she could use for her potions.
And before you ask why she didn't go herself......She has locked herself in her lab again for the last two days and refuses to get away from her notes and experiments.
Although it is nice to see you again (so I guess I can thank her later)"



"Onward we go!"

The gourd said energetically, despite the fact that the caravan plodded forward at walking pace.

*****

The first half of the day was quiet, they're still too close to Nagrand. But as they get closer to the mine and by extension the Cave of the Dead, undeads started appearing. Always sporadically, but there didn't seems to be an end to them.

"A bit monotonous, these undeads. No matter where I am." He lightly commented, bashing a leaping ghoul with his shield followed by a sword swing hacking through its head.


"UMU, well what do you expect from beings without any soul or a shred of intelligence? I AM getting tired of dealing with them as well though"
Rei said while stepping around Gourd with light footwork and delivering a couple of burning fists to the undead's body, causing it to catch on fire and burn away into ashes.
"Not to mention the horrible odor"

As she turns back to walk towards the caravan she gets patted on her shoulder and back by the people she is supposed to escort.
It seems they came to like Rei for some reason unknown to her.
Incidentally, there was one idiot who treated her like a child and ruffled up her hair at the beginning
He didn't stop even after being asked politely to stop, so she "warned" him with a simple elbow strike to the ribs.
Ever since then nobody was brave enough to pat Rei's head.

Unbeknownst to them, hiding in the shadows of the mountain was bandit scout who was keeping a lookout on the road for their clan.
As soon as he noticed the group heading towards the mine he sent a message pigeon to their hideout to report.

"Large caravan traveling down the road from Nagrand, empty, several various professions, two strong escorts, one of them was confirmed to be a C rank adventurer from the silver badge on his neck, and the other seems to be using some sort of fire magic and martial arts, estimated to be a D rank. both seem quite used to fighting humanoids. Do I follow them?"

A while later a different pigeon came back with an answer and orders.

"Yes, but stay at a safe distance and report your status and current location every hour. You don't want to risk getting detected by one of the bodyguards. Keep tabs on where they are going and why. If there is wealth to be made from it, we shall ambush them on the way back"


"Here we are!" The gourd jovially announced, showing the ruined miner base. The craftmen guild's early runner were already there, which did... whatever early preparations they needed. None of his business frankly.

"Now then, it should be rather quiet. They'll spend the evening... I'm not sure, probably butchering the most expensive bits before it goes bad. Then the skinning can be done tomorrow and maybe the day after. Then we return."

He picked a ruined watchtower at the edge of the camp as his perch, setting up a simple campfire at the base. There's no undead visible in the evening sun, while the workers were a buzz of activity as some of the smaller drake corpses were dragged out of the mine.



Nodding at Jack's estimations, Rei took to a more direct approach and started to actively patrol the perimeter of the base every hour or so, she took a rest on a tall tree when not patrolling.
Each patrol took only 10 to 15 minutes at most.

Meanwhile, the bandit scout sent a report with the pigeon.

"The caravan stopped at the mine near the caves of the dead, they seem to be dragging out drake corpses and dismantling them. The C rank adventurer took point overlooking their base and the surroundings, while the other one is patrolling their perimeter."

AS the sun set down, Rei stopped the patrols (who is dumb enough to try and keep patrolling in the dark?) and joined Jack at the bonfire.
She turned towards Jack and offered him two out of the four small animals she caught earlier and cooked over the bonfire.
"After dinner, let's take turns keeping a lookout during the night."



"That's a wise plan." The gourd nodded. "I'll take first watch?"

He helped Rei skinning and gutting the critters, cooking them in his trusty old pot. The gourd's pack of pepper improved the meal from bland into acceptably edible, it's the small things that mattered.

Later on, he took the first watch. Of course, having completely neglected mentioning when will they swap, it was a few hours before dawn that a suspicious Rei woke up from a too-long slumber.

There was the dull thud of something being chopped in the distance. He reappeared a few moment later, smelling slightly of the dead.

"Ah, I was just about to wake you!" He lied.


Feeling a bit too refreshed, Rei looked at Jack and just sighed as she realized he let her sleep too much on purpose.
She got up and walked towards the small pile of undead Jack created not far upwind from their camp.

"I doubt that but thanks. but will you be alright? there is not much time to sleep until morning."
Rei asked as she burned away the corpses.

"Sleep is for the dead!" He jovially jested. "Well, and I'm not completely blind in the darkness so there's that too. Also got a magical second sight if necessary."

He then climbed atop the watchtower.

"Just shake the base when you need me! I'll be up at dawn otherwise."

"Hahahahaha, I see. will do, have a nice sleep Jack"

Rei then kept watch throughout the rest of the night, taking care of the occasional undead that wandered near the camp and burning them to ashes.
After a few hours, Dawn broke and the workers camp came to life.

A couple of minutes later Jack was standing next to her as she performed her regular morning routine - light training and a quick meditation.
She greeted him as she finished her meditation.
"Good morning pumpkin head, have you slept well?"

"As well as I could possibly hope for!"

Translation from gourdese: not at all, kept one eye open through the night.

"What are you up to?" He inquired curiously.

At the workers' camp, they've dragged out all the drakes yesterday and hung them over with some rather well-made pulleys. They began to cut the corpses open, the stench was to be expected from something dead for two days, the gourd was rather glad they don't need to be anywhere near that.

Today's schedule seemed to be gathering the precious parts, drakeskin included.


Rei raised an eyebrow at Jack's energetic response but decided against commenting on it.
Instead, she answered his question.

"This? My daily morning routine. It wakes me up, helps in keeping my shape, increases my Ki reserves a bit, etc.
Also it is a great warm up.
Everybody in our village did this, one way or another.
Most Oni hate to be lazy you see.
Why don't you join me? it's healthy and helps sharpen your senses"

At that time the bandit scout was rereading the boss's message.
"Keep tabs on them, we will strike after they will finish dismantling the drakes.
It will save us the effort of finding a trustworthy craftsman to do it later."
He understood the boss's intentions but striking on the route was riskier than a night raid.
He just hoped none of the escorting adventurers will notice him by then, earlier he thought he felt a gaze on him but when he looked for the source it disappeared.
He prayed it was just his imagination.


"Is it safe to stay that way? I prefer just running." The gourd inquired, sitting down next to her.

"Say, anything unusual last night?"

"Why wouldn't it be safe? Well, your choice.
I for one find only running to be lacking.
It's good if you want ONLY to keep in shape, but for physical fighters like us....... well you get the idea.
Anyway, nothing serious happened.
Only the occasional undead, oh and of course that guy that is spying on us since the middle of the first day.
You noticed him too right?"

"How much are you aware of your surrounding? AndI'll end up breaking something if I do it too hard!" He spouted some random excuse.

"That guy? I snuck into his hidey hole last night. He's stalking to see if the caravan is worthy to rob."

"I am always aware of my surroundings, maybe a bit less when I meditate but not enough that I will let someone less skilled than me to sneak up on me.
Well, we each have our own way."
Rei chuckled at Gourd's overreaction.

"I see, so he is part of a bandit clan? if he can communicate with them it means they will notice his disappearance in case we take him out......should we do it anyway and hope it will scare them away? or let them ambush us?"

"Sounds like a challenge!"

Rei would need to prepare for a gourd trying to tickle her by surprise for the next morning.

"Since we're in an easily defensible position, we'll probably be fine until the day after tomorrow when we depart. So I plan to make another visit tonight, I'll ask him really nicely about his friends."

Was it obvious enough that the gourd being 'nice' would involve a lot of stabbing? Probably.

"Until then though, just act normal!"

"Umu, it wasn't but you are welcome to try"
Rei thought back on the duel They had a few days ago.
'This might end up being my loss this time, Jack is the type to hold many tricks up his sleeve. Well I don't intend on making this easy for him'.

"I see, take care when you do. This time I will simply take a vintage point to look over the camp instead of patroling"
After the morning routine was finished and the details were sorted out, Rei headed towards a slightly elevated piece of the mountain cliff overlooking the campsite.
It wasn't suited for sleeping or making a bonfire but it was perfect for keeping an eye over the whole area.

Many hours later, including breaks for food and several wandering undead, the workers finishes their work for the day and only a couple of half skinned Drake's were left to deal with for tomarow.


Comes nightfall, the gourd prepared himself to find their stalker. Not like he needed much, it's quite easy to find a human's essence signature in this empty land.

"Undersight. Shadowflip."

A different sight blanketed his own, lighting up the dark landscape in multitude of soft glows. Any being carrying energy lit up, from the smallest insect to the largest of beast. A human was rather easy to distinguish, especially when it's the sole one of its kind within miles.

A flickering shadow slithered through the landscape, soundless without the slightest ripple. It soon arrived at a concealed camp where a man was huddled amidst the cold, not daring to light a flame. Mistake, when it comes to the gourd. The lack of light turned him into the stuff of nightmare to the unaware.

He slithered next to the bandit trying to doze off, and whispered to his ears.

"Found you."

The bandit jolted up with fright, straight into a knife's butt. The blow knocked him down before the gourd stomped his chest once, driving the air out of the fallen bandit.

The gourd twirled a knife in his hand, crouching next to the bandit.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. Speak out of your turn, or tell a lie, and I'll cut something off." He stated lightly, still shrouded in darkness.

"W-what are- AAAAAH!"

"What did I just said?" The gourd said, holding a finger severed at its midpoint. "I'm asking the question here, do you understand? Answer, yes or no?"

"Y-yes..!"

"Good, now about your friends you've been speaking with..."

*****

Near dawn, the gourd returned to the camp under the shroud of Shadowflip. He took a round way to find Rei, rising behind her before poking both her sides.

"Yo, I'm back. Got the location of the bandits, what next?"

Suprised by the poke, Rei turned from her sitting position in seiza to strike at the appearany ''attacker" before stopping her hand an inch away from the gourd's neck.

"Jack!..... you actually managed to somehow sneak past my senses? That's....Impressive.
I guess it was thanks to another one of your brands.
Well we have three options we can take about the bandits.
1- we both stay to protect the camp and wait for them to attack, this has the risk of not knowing when they will strike or if they will even do so in the first place after losing their scout.
2- the both of us storm their hideout - highly unadvisable, we would leave the camp open to attacks.
3 - leave one person here in charge or protection and one person will storm their hideout. This carries the risk of reducing our fighting potential by half, but it is the most recommended option.

So, Jack, which do you prefer? As I said before, I recommend the third option."


"I guess I killed you once eh?" He smirked.

"I could go and deal with them. Wont be the first bandit camp I take down. According to that guy there's not many energy users in the camp, I should be able to handle it. Humans are so fragile."

It wasn't a boast, but more like a factual statement. The gourd's simply too slippery for a number of inferior opponents to properly pin down.

"Hmmm, I guess it is more your alley.
My methods are more about straight forward charging and you DID manage to sneak up on me......we have a plan of action then.

I shall keep an eye out for anymore scouts or leftovers who managed to escape my way"

This time Rei climbed the old watch tower in order to overlook the entire area of the mountain side.

"Forward charge is sufficient, and a lot faster. I'm quite good at avoiding injury. Well then, I'm off!"

*****

"Arcane Armament. Arcane Armament. Dart."

With arcane glow extending out of his blade, the gourd Darted straight through the bandit camp's short fence. He ran straight through the clumps of people, anyone getting within two meters sliced through without care of their equipments. There were several slightly stronger people that had ki-strengthening, but slightly bigger ants wouldn't feel any difference when stepped on - he pierced through all the same, butchering all he found.

Within five minutes he finished his work, decapitating the last fleeing man. It wasn't a big group, barely fifty people and not even that well-trained. Phery's bunch were world apart in quality.

"Looting time!"

*****

"Heya, I'm back!"

It's about lunchtime when the gourd returned, sporting a small pouch of coins looted from the bandits.

"Hoooho, that was quite fast.
I guess they weren't much of challenge for you after all.
Good timing, I just finished making a simple lunch."
Rei pointed at the boiling pot with simple herbs and boar meat flowing inside, as she threw a dry meat provision into the pot.
"For salty flavor"

**********

"Now that we ate, guide me to their camp.
We better burn the corpses so they will not spawn as undead, how many were there?"

"Fifty-ish? I didn't count. Already torched the corpses, although it's normal flame so there'll be the usual residue." The gourd fell into deep thought. "People became undead often around here?"

"Ah a slightly large platoon, good job then!"

At Gourd's questlion Rei sighed and said
".......since you are asking that I can guess you really are not exactly from around here are you? It's not exactly an everyday thing but it's common enough that everyone knows how to deal with them.
Corpses with strong malice or without proper burials have a chance of naturally becoming low ranked undead.
Especially in places overflowing with negative energy or grudges like battlefields of war or the cave of the dead.
There is also the fact that necromancy isn't exactly outlawed as long as the caster isn't using it to hurt anybody.
It's not like it's assured that the bandit corpses will become undead on their own, but it's much better to take measures to avoid it when you can, than not."

"I'm... well, not exactly from that place, but I was stuck there for a long time. Whatever the creature, when they die their essence disperses and with that their physical body too. I wont even try to guess what's wrong with the law on that place."

He silently stare into the distance for a moment.

"Memory is a very powerful thing. And in that place, they return to life. Somewhat. Ever wonder what would a man remembered as a cruel tyrant in life become after he's twisted by both undeath and millions of unpleasant memories?" He turned to look at Rei in the eyes. "Calling it a monster would do disservice to the monsters out there."

Rei silently stared in Jack's eyes before she returned her eyes to the fire under the pot, muling over what she just heard.

She stays silent for a couple of moments with her head down before she speaks up.
Her voice was quiet, yet strangely it was very clear.

"This is just my personal opinion, but I think that the true monsters are those who are consumed by their obsession with the past.
I met those kinds many times on my journey, as they lose control of themselves because of loss.
However.....

I also think that If you started to doubt and regret your past action even a little, and look forward to the future while living the present, then you are no longer a monster. Just a man, who made mistakes.
Even if it's just for your self-satisfaction, even if it's just a small trivial gesture born from a whim, as long as it made someone happy, at that point no-one can call you a monster, and I would beat up the fool who dares to.
Ah, this was all hypothetical okay? I wasn't talking about YOU when I said [you]"

"My, you hit so close to home! Mistakes and regrets, huh?"

He leaned back, propping himself with his arms.

"I have enough of those for several lifetimes. Sometimes I wonder if I survive when more deserving people didn't - was this the circle of fate, telling me that I will continue living haunted by regret? I've done terrible things. Not even insanity or corruption can excuse it."

"Hmmmm, well the Jack I know today is not someone who would do those kind things anymore right?
If are aware what you did was terrible, then all you have to do make amends, by doing just as much good as you did bad.
I consider those who can't even regret their misdeeds or even realize them, much more terrible people than you are currently"

Rei them stood up and knocked on the Helmet, making a gesture for Jack to take it off.

"As much good as I did bad?" He chuckled. "An arduous task. But step by step, it'll complete eventually."

He muttered the magic words before pulling his helmet off.

"Strange creatures, people. No matter how deep we bury our darkness, it'll take control with but the slightest lapse."

Rei nodded as she started patting Jack's hair.
"My Shishou- my teacher also told me once, [It is very easy to fall into evil and darkness, and it takes great effort for men to be good. For when we stare into the abyss, the abyss stares right back].
I don't know how deep is your darkness Jack, perhaps it is even deeper than I can ever imagine.
But I know you, the current you, is not an evil or terrible person.
And if you ever feel you are being swept away by the darkness, remember you have friends and allies.
Like Ayumi-chan, me, Valdarin, Elaine, Mika, and others I probably don't know their names.
People can't live alone, we use each other as beacons light or anchors.
So don't be afraid to rely on us when you feel like you are being overwhelmed by your past okay?
The one thing most important is the present, you told me that"

"Yeah... thanks." He quietly replied. "Live for today indeed."

The following silence was pleasant, the two enjoying each other's company until it's time to return.

The caravan moved out a bit after noontime, filled to the brim with drakeskin they'll process into leather back in Nagrand as well as other miscelanous pieces. There was a pit dug out to burn the leftovers, but even the bones were taken away. It probably had some use.

It was night by the time they reached the city, the trip went without a hitch. There were some undeads, even a small pack of ghouls, but the feral creatures were no match for the two escort.

"Home at last! Come closer, I've got something to tell you."

The gourd leaned down to whisper into Rei's ears.

"The job's officially finished!"

Before she could process the implications, he lifted his gourd with one hand and pulled Rei in with another. He invaded her lips, a short but deep kiss full of passion just out of sight from the workers.

"See you tomorrow."

The gourd vanished from sight quickly, his chuckle echoed for long after he's gone.

Still standing in shock as she proccess what just happened, Rei's face was red as a tomato, and you could almost see steam being released from her head.

Around a couple minutes later she came back to her senses, slapped her cheeks, and headed towards the guild to make the report, still sporting a small blush though.
"Ugh! That Stupid flirty pumpkin!.......I should really have a talk with Ayumi--chan soon".

Spoiler: Notes

- killed unknown numbers of feral undead wondering near the area of the mine.
Total Estimated numbers are in the two digits.

- was followed by a unskilled bandit scout, used him to find the rest of their crew and crush them.

- Rei didn't take any of the loot since Gourd killed all of them, and she isn't a fan of looting the dead.

- Rei and Gourd has a heart to heart about his past and life philosophy.

- one full day of travel, one day of travel + setting camp and beginning the dismantling work, one full day of dismantling, one day half dismantling half traveling, one full day of traveling.
Total of 5 days

@A5G_Reaper
@Quaesitor

 

"It seems like you two completed this quest without any problems. Good job out there. Here are your 60 Large Copper Coins, and 8 Guild Points per person."

 

"Hm...? Where is Miss Aria?" asked the nomad. After waiting at the receptionist's desk for over ten minutes, he decided to ask that to the other receptionists. He then heard that she was taking a sudden vacation, something about going away for a week or so. Since it couldn't be helped, he tagged another receptionist and gave him the report.

Spoiler: Report

Zone Q11 = Standard
Siostar = Orange

--- --- ---

The 4th day in the Month of Life, a girl is ready to travel down south of Ternus. However, she just remembers a single problem, the girl called Lykke has forgotten to decide on a meeting place with a party member for today.

There were more than one gate to exit the city in Nagrand, so it makes more sense to wait in the Guild Tavern, since the adventures tend to gather in there. With that thought in her mind, Lykke went over to the Guild in the early morning, carving something while she awaits.

Zoan had entered the guild, hoping that his partner is here. He had been waiting at the tavern for less than a quarter of an hour before he decided to go to the guild.
Fortunately, the nomad found Lykke carving a sculpture. He then asked, "Hello. Are you ready for the travel?"

"Ah? Em.. j..just a minute.." the girl responds with surprise and quickly clean up her mess, she packs her tools and tosses the trash to where they belong.
"I..I'm ready now... and good morning?" Lykke half-asks, unsure if she is supposed to say a morning greeting to Zoan.

"Good morning to you as well," Zoan greeted before continuing to explain the situation. "I went to the market district an hour ago and found a merchant who is willing to let us ride with him towards Hero's Port. It appears that the carriage had not enough space to accommodate more than four more people however, so I am only going to take one comrade with me."

"I see..." Lykke mumbles and begins to wonder if every adventure with experience were so well prepared even in a party.
"Em... is your comrade one of those you were with yesterday?"

The two began to walk towards Nagrand's southern entrance as they continue to talk. "Yes. The person in question is the woman who sat at the table though, so you might have not seen her back then."

"A woman?" The girl asked, thinking back on the last days event, she only remembers a childish figure instead. "Em...I suppose she isn't the black feathered one..."

"Ahaha... No. That little one is called Fey. I had named her Black Feather when I decided to take her in, but I guess it has become a last name..." Zoan then reminisces on the recent past, before noticing that they were already nearing the southern entrance.

"Oh. There she is," the nomad said before mildly waving at the woman next to the gates. The woman wore primitive clothing similar to that of the nomad's. From a glance, one might think that the two were siblings, or even lovers. ...well, the former is more unlikely though, as the woman possesses black colored hair while the color of chestnut dyes the head of the nomad.

"She looks... very unique, are you two from the same homeland?" Lykke asked, glancing around to see if the merchant is here as well.

"Ah... we are. She belongs to the same tribe as mine. We got separated due to a storm a few months ago, but I managed to find her a week or two ago," Zoan then noticed that Lykke was looking for something near the entrance and guessed that she was looking for the merchant. "The merchant is just outside the entrance. Don't worry about that."

The two then met up with Mallory, and with a nod alone she and Zoan continued to walk through the gate. Literally a few meters away from the walls of Nagrand stood a carriage with two horses attached to it. It was then that the merchant exited his carriage, with a proud smile plastered on his face. "Oh? Zoan-san, I see that you and your colleagues are ready to depart?"
The nomad responded with a natural "Yes," and "thank you for doing us a favor once more Eric... san." Despite having lived for over twenty years, it appeared that Zoan never got used to the suffixes used in some local parts of Ternus.

"Um.. hello mister." Lykke greets. "I..I'm Lykke."
The merchant nods at her and proudly presenting himself, "I'm Eric, the owner of this great carriage!" The girl just blinks confused at him, unsure of why he sounds so proud.

"Well then!" the merchant said. "Shall we go!?"

The adventurers nodded and hopped on the carriage. The merchant lashed his reins and the horses began to move towards Skyfall Keep. The roads after a few dozen kilometers are quite slightly unsteady, but the scenery never fails to soothe the nomad's heart.
"So Lykke... What do you think about the quest? Are you excited to hunt some crabs?" the woman asked.

"Um...To be honest, I have never been by the sea, so I don't even know how a crab looks like." The girl embarrassingly admits, as she unconsciously avoids the sunlight.

"Crabs..." the nomad muttered. "I have heard of them from villages. They are small creatures walking on the shores of the sea, which can only walk sideways. I hear that their eyes are like those of snails and that they have pincers, but in the end I don't know how much of it is true." Zoan then paused. "I think they might be delicious?"

"I..I think it's why we got the job," Lykke silently points out. "And the crabs we have to catch is probably bigger?"

"Hm... It should be. A few days ago I was took a quest to drive off Giant Beetles, and those alone were bigger than my whole body," the nomad then spread his arms as wide as he could to imply how big it was. "Fortunately they were rather tame. Not much is known about the Giant Crabs we are about to face, so we might need to be careful this time. Right, Zoan?" the woman said.

"Y-Yes... By the way, the quest said to 'procure' a Giant Crab... which means that we will have to capture one alive, huh?"

"Eh..? Such a big creature have to be dragged back alive? Unreasonable..." Lykke mutters the last part in disbelief and notices the black haired females has talked for first time.

"U..um... can I know your name?" She asks nervously, "I'm Lykke."

"My name is Mallory. Nice to meet you as well," she smiled. Zoan then continued, "As unreasonable as it may be, we still have to do it. I frankly don't know whether a rope will do against a giant crab, but we will see it when the time comes."

"I just wonder if it dies without sea water..." the merchant thoughtless mumbles, make the carriage fall silent for a while...

--- --- ---

After travelling for a couple days, crossing through mountains, bridges and small villages, the party of three finally arrived at Hero's Port, where they had split up to ask the local citizen about the locations of Giant Crabs.

"Hm... From what I heard, the Giant Crabs could be found on a shore a little bit to the west," said the nomad first. Then the woman followed, "My sources tell the same, but it appears that there are also some in a cave to the south. What do you think, Lykke?"

Lykke makes a thinking-pose and seriously voice her thoughts, "I think we could go to the south if we place traps to the cave entry, but we can only count our luck to find one a crab and not something else." Lykke pauses, thinking about how she should tell about the shore, "Um... if we go to the west side, it's easier to spot the giant crabs? There would be an open space to fight, I just have no idea how those things does fight..."

"Alright. To the west it is then. I imagine that they are fighting with their pincers, but surely they cannot be that bad, right?"

--- --- ---

"Okay. They are bad," the nomad regretted. The party are now at the shore, and Zoan had spotted one after a couple minutes of walking. He then went straight to run towards the crab and instead of fleeing or standing still, the crab turned around and ran horizontally towards the nomad as well. Still thinking that it was an doable opponent, Zoan swung his hammer to hit the creature but it bounced off, and he got tackled and overrun by the crab.

"Eh!? W..what should we do?!" The girl panicked on the incomprehensive situation, as she turns to Mallory hoping for an answer, the female nomad was already gone and has joined with her fellow tribe member.

Zoan kept trying to hit the Giant Crab with his stone club, but even when they hit they just don't seem effective on the Giant Crab at all.
Mallory on the other hand was chanting a cast for some magic, causing some dark aura to appear near her.

At a certain point the Giant Crab stopped moving fast and a circle with subjectively complex patterns start to appear before it. Out of the magic circle, smaller crabs started to pour on the sandy shore! The little crabs look like a normal -if not weaker- crabs. Their colors were all light pink, similar to the color of soft flesh.

Seeing as Lykke seem to be unarmed, Zoan threw his iron sword into the sand in front of her and instructed, "I will lend you my sword! If you know how to stab the little crabs, then you should be fine!" The nomad then proceeded to continue his match with the Giant Crab.

Lykke quickly went for the sword and attempts to pull it out of the sand, to her surprise she did it and failed miserably to stab the crabs. The sword in her fingers just slips away from her strengthless hands, swaying in the air for less than a second and dully hit the ground.

In the main while, the small crabs have suddenly gotten too close to her, unable to think of anything she kicks and tramps the crabs out of instinct. Once in a while, she runs around, avoiding to be surrounded by the small critters.

While Lykke is running away from the small crabs, Mallory had finally finished her chant and targeted it at the Giant Crab. As she did so, the dark aura emitted from her went towards the Giant Crab and infiltrated its insides! Suddenly, the main body part of the crab and its legs turned dark, and the creature's movements slowed down!

Zoan did not even need to know what magic the woman had used, and continued to pummel the crab's main body. This time however, it was the crab that flew instead of Zoan. The crab fell over, and tried to get up, but got knocked out by a bash to its head!

--it was at that time however, that something had cracked. It was not the crab's shell... but rather Zoan's stone club. After having been used with loads of passion and aggressiveness, it had finally shattered into pieces.

"..." Zoan took a breath's time to recognize the situation and accepted it immediately, throwing away the primitive weapon. The Giant Crab is knocked out, so one hunting part of the quest is clear. The transportation part on the other hand is rather the biggest question...

"H...help me..." a whimper sounded out, bringing the other two's attention behind them. The girl who they thought to be fine, is now laying helplessly on the ground as the small crabs are crawling all over her.

"My, oh my... Lykke, what are you doing?" Mallory asked. Even though she herself is not a fighter like Zoan, even she could swing the iron sword a couple of times and not get buried under the little crabs.

The nomad sighed, thinking that this scenario reminds him of Fey. He then took the iron sword which was stuck on the sand and mightily swung at the area before Lykke. From that swing alone, a large gust had spawned, blowing away the little critters from the little girl. The little crabs then ran away from the adventurers and eventually dissipated as the mana had extinguished from their pseudo-bodies.

"Are you fine?" the nomad asked.

"I...I think so..." Lykke responds, making a weak smile to him. She then gets up and quickly dusts the sand off her clothes.
"Um.. shouldn't we tie it up?" The girl asked, afraid that the Giant Crab will move again.

"Yeah, we should... the problem is: tie it up with what?" There was nothing akin to a rope in the vicinity; there was no "very durable seaweed" at the shores. Not that such a thing is easily available in the first place. The party did not think of purchasing any durable ropes at Hero's Port either. In the end they were more of a "act first, think later" kind of group.

"Do you have any spells to bind it?" the nomad asked the woman. Mallory swayed her head left and right, "I only know of curse magic and blood magic. I can weaken it once it wakes up, but binding it requires blood as medium, and even then I won't be able to maintain it too long..."

"Mmn... Then there is only one thing I can think of right now: We put it in the caravan and knock it out every time it wakes up." In every aspect, this plan was rather the worst plan possible. Fortunately Mallory was nearby and gave the suggestion of having Zoan knock the crab out every time it wakes up while Lykke goes back to the town to buy some durable ropes.

At first, Lykke agrees to Mallory's idea, but then she realizes something that could be a problem. "Em... What if I got lost...?" The girl asked, after all the Hero's Port is a major city she knows nothing about.

"Mmn... Mal, you go with her. I will stay here alone," Zoan ordered. He could have said that she can do it if she keeps asking people for directions, but to avoid any possible "bad events", he decided that the young female adventurer should have a bodyguard of sorts. Despite her physical appearance, Mallory informed the nomad that she is capable of the basic self-defense. Unless they encountered a thug gang of more than ten men, the two should be fine.

The woman complied without any complaints, but it was rather Zoan who should be worrying about himself. The Giant Crab is unconscious for now, but it is uncertain for how long it will remain this way. He was only able to knock the huge creature out with the help of the witch's curse, and his club has fallen apart at that too. Once it wakes up again he would have to exhaust himself even further to fight the crab, so he should be hoping that the two will come back within four hours tops if possible.

The other two went away without further ado and arrived at the shopping street for armour, weapons and such. They had asked some people who looked like guides, so the place was easy to find.

After they got the ropes, Lykke asked the female nomad, "Do you think we should buy something else?"

Slightly surprised by the girl, the woman smiled and said, "No. I am good. Thank you for asking though." The two then went straight back with a little haste, only to find out that nothing in particular had happened with Zoan or the Giant Crab.

The rope the two girls had bought were quite the thick and sturdy one used to hold ships at bay. Using that same type of rope, the nomad bound the crab's limbs and pincers. The knot were that of an amateur and would likely loosen if the crab were to struggle really hard, but he will be there to knock it out before that happens.

Seeing the nomad takes the tying job on his own hands, the girls trust him to get the job done. Meanwhile, Lykke looks around them and asked, "Do you guys know where Eric has gone to?"

"Eric? I thought he went to stay in Hero's Port for three days before leaving to Asphodelus?" the woman said. She then puts her index finger on her lips while looking up to the sky and, "Ah. Come to think of it, I guess you and Zoan were half-asleep back then. It was early up in the morning when we arrived here after all."

"Well," Zoan grunted as he lifted the Giant Crab that is huger than his own body, "At least Eric was kind enough to ask a favor to another merchant for a ride back to Nagrand."

"I..I see..." Lykke mutters speechlessly on Zoan's super strength. While Zoan carry the Giant Crab like it is the most normal thing on the world, the nomads guide her to the meeting place of the merchant in question.
To hide from the prying eyes directed to the party, Lykke pulled up her hood to at least hide her face a bit better... The attention was simply too unnerving for her.

The party of three met the grumpy merchant at Hero's Port's northern entrance and left immediately as soon as the merchant yelled them to do so. Whether it was because of some bad childhood or bad influence from the city, the merchant whose name he had never given was someone who is bossy 24/7.
On the way back home it was quite silent, so the nomad was trying to find a topic to talk about. He then remembered watching the girl pull up her hood as to avoid attention, and went to ask about it. "Say... Do you wish to not stand out?"

"Eh...I..I just dislike when too many look at me..." the girl said, somewhat uncomfortable.

"I see..." Zoan slowly said. Mallory read the uncomfortable mood, and mentally sighed. 'This so-called employer of mine... He really is bad at conversations, isn't he?' the woman thought. Looking at the girl, wearing the smile she usually wore, she then asked: "Lykke, did you have fun today?"

Grateful on for the change of topic, the girl make a smile to Mallory, before she thinks back upon the events today.

"Um... I think I had a lot of fun today, even though there was... many unexpected surprises," Lykke honestly told them.

"Was there now?" Mallory asked. To her, the quest went quite perfectly well. Perhaps it was because she had had encountered countless unknown creatures and emotions before, but when it comes to D Rank monsters, there is unlikely to be any that will surprise her.

Lykke blinks for a moment, unsure how she should respond to the female beside her. Just as the girl was about to say something, the talk was suddenly interrupted by Zoan.
He looked at the young female adventurer and said: "Your abilities. I see that you are not a fighter... I wish to know. Why did you accept this quest?" The sentences were unrefined and straight to the point. Its tone did not harbor any affection, but that was simply how Zoan usually talks.

Feeling guilty of how useless she had been on this quest, the girl tries to answer with some difficulty.
"Um... I..I.. wanted to have some party experience for a while, but.. most adventures will take a party quest on D rank, so I tried this one. I really didn't expect a Giant Crab was so strong... perhaps I hoped we would catch it by a trap or something?" Lykke asked, mostly to herself.

"Well... That is rather unlikely to happen though," the nomad harshly answered. "The area we were in was full of sand, there by making holes rather difficult to be effective. Then comes the matter that there was no material powerful enough to act as a net at the time. ...still, you did help us with this quest. For that, I thank you."

As the man tells why her idea wasn't good, Lykke began to feel like a scolded child and lowers her head down, it was only the last part that made rise again in surprise.
"E...eh? B..but I didn't do anything useful..." the girl mumbled unconfidently.

"Even if you lost, you tried your best to fend off the little crabs." (Zoan)
"You were the one asking for directions while I was too shy to talk with the citizens. You were with us when we didn't have anyone but ourselves to talk to." (Mal)
"The more, the merrier, right?" (Zoan)

"R..right!" Lykke responded a bit embarrassed, even though she made many mistakes, she was glad that her first party members were so nice.

And thus, the party kept travelling back to Nagrand, talking about their interests and so forth. Surprisingly, the Giant Crab had only woken up twice during the travel and it is still alive! Sir Chocolot was very satisfied with the result and gave the confirmation stamp on the quest sheet.

@Quaesitor @Siostar

 

Arawn approached the receptionist's desk accompanied by an orc.

Spoiler: That's one ugly mistress.

Arawn was actually rather excited about this quest. The whole concept of investigating suspicious actions interested him greatly, reminding him of the books he read many years ago. Mystery had always been a favorite of his, and Arawn was proud to admit that it drew him to this particular quest.


Of course, Arawn held no great expectations for this. In the end, he was requested to discover whether a man was cheating on his fiance. No murders or grand conspiracies. At least, he hoped not. Arawn certainly didn’t hope for something like that just to satisfy his interests. Despite his excitement, he would be content if his investigations overturned no secrets.


Arawn was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw his target exiting his home. Arawn would follow the fiance, apparently named Magog, throughout the day and night. There was no doubt that his behavior was suspicious, so Arawn wanted to avoid missing any potentially important actions.


He tailed him to his workplace, a general store on the other side of Nagrand. Unfortunately, Arawn couldn’t get any closer, as he had to avoid tipping off Magog. This left him to lounge about while he monitored Magog. Admittedly not the most interesting of activities. But even so, Arawn played his role dutifully for hours.


Eventually, the sun shone lower in the sky and the day began to end. Arawn found himself incredibly bored, having watched Magog the entire day and having found nothing. The orc had simply gone about his business in an unremarkable way.


But Arawn knew that the real investigation started now, once Magog left his workplace. He followed the orc away from the shop and through the streets of Nagrand. Arawn was sure he wasn’t heading home. Instead, he traveled to the outskirts of Nagrand, where the buildings were more spread apart. Magog approached a small, nondescript house and entered through the front door.


Arawn, still hidden a distance away, noted the location of the house. He decided to continue following Magog throughout the rest of the night, then return to investigate the house. However, Arawn soon found himself growing restless. Something was wrong.


It was nothing specific that made him feel this way, but he simply couldn’t help it. There was a strange stillness about the house; one that put him on edge. No movement, no sounds. While that was still no reason to worry, Arawn still did so.


Well, as long as he was careful, it wouldn’t hurt to go closer to the house, right? Thinking so, Arawn snuck up to the house and circled around to the back. There, he forced open a window and used it to slip inside.


As he did, Arawn grew more suspicious. The house was eerily quiet. He moved silently from room to room, trying to find Magog. Nothing. The orc had seemingly disappeared without a single sign. Arawn was stupefied at this possibility. He had kept an extremely close watch on the house. There was only one entrance, and all the windows had been shut prior to Arawn’s entrance. He refused to believe that there was a way for Magog to have escaped him.


He went through the entire house another time, trying to find some clue as to the orc’s whereabouts. Arawn moved furniture around, rifled through papers, and searched cabinets to no avail. There was nothing to tell him why Magog had come there or how he left. However, he did make some unusual discoveries.


While the house looked normal at first glance, it appeared to have not been actually lived in for quite some time. The bed was unused and the cabinets filled with dust, despite the fact that the ground was clear of it. The surfaces in plain view were all clean and well-kept. Someone had gone to great lengths to make it appear as if someone lived in the house.


Stumped by the situation, Arawn stood in the middle of the living room, surrounded by furniture in various states of disarray. Suddenly, an idea hits him. Perhaps there was some sort of hidden exit? Arawn hoped so, or he would have no way to excuse an entire day of wasted time. He went back to the furniture, shifting them around and trying to find a concealed entrance.


He looked down at the rug on the ground and had another idea. He pulled the heavy rug off the floor and found his guess to be correct. There was a trapdoor set among the wooden floorboards of the house. Arawn grinned victoriously at his discovery. Now he was getting somewhere.


He unsheathed his dagger and held it warily as he approached the trapdoor. He eased the wooden cover open carefully and peered into the opening. There was a wooden ladder leading down to a dimly lit corridor. He descended into the corridor and examined his surroundings. He recoiled at the heavy, metallic stench in the air.


The surprisingly large corridor was gruesome and altogether disturbing. Numerous small animals dangled from the ceiling of the corridor, suspended by rope. They dripped dark blood into half-full buckets all along the length of the corridor. In the poor light, Arawn saw rats, birds, rabbits, and even some cats and dogs among the creatures.


Arawn broke out into a cold sweat, unnerved by the sight. This was definitely not a hidden mistress. He gulped nervously and started down the corridor. He wasn’t going to turn back now, not after what he had seen. It was too late for that.


The young hunter gripped his knife, wishing that he had come more heavily armed. Or with a Soren. That would certainly be more reassuring. Unfortunately, all he had was his trusty hunting knife, and it would have to do.

The corridor, long as it was, only led to one room. There were no other doors or entrances along its length. Arawn peeked carefully around the corner into the room at the end of the hall. The room was… surprisingly normal. In comparison with the sinister corridor, the large room was a breath of fresh air. Ignoring the bubbling pit of what appeared to be blood, that is.


Sudden movement within Arawn drew his attention away from the pit to the tall orc in the room. Magog moved over to a nearby table and opened a small black box, extracting a silvery disc attached to a chain. Magog held it by the chain and dipped the disc into the pit of blood, holding it there for a few moments before removing it. The disc was, amazingly, as clean as when it went into the pit.


Magog stood with his back towards the hunter, watching the pit of blood in complete silence. Arawn watched him in confusion, wondering what the orc was doing. After a few moments, he strode over to the pit and sunk his arm into it. Magog grasped something within it and heaved it out.


Arawn resisted the urge to hurl as he saw what came out of the pit. It was a strange, malformed monster resembling bundles of exposed flesh fused with rotting plant roots. Magog flung the abomination to the side, where it, upon hitting the ground, collapsed into a pile of flesh and disgusting fluids.


Arawn let out a strangled gasp of horror at this sight. Magog froze as he held the disc in the pit once more. He spun around and immediately spotted the disgusted Arawn in the doorway. Knowing that he needed to act now, Arawn lunged at the unprepared orc with his knife drawn. Magog flung a handful of the blood into Arawn face in retaliation. The hunter spluttered around a mouthful of the vile liquid, blinded by the attack. Magog seized Arawn around the neck and slammed him into the wall, lifting Arawn up until he could look into the orc’s red eyes and knocking the knife from his grasp.


He squeezed down with all of his orcish strength as Arawn’s face turned purple. Suddenly, the pit near them sprayed out blood with a loud hiss. Magog flinched and turned slightly towards it. Arawn capitalized on this distraction and drove his foot harshly in between Magog’s legs. The orc stumbled backwards with a pained grunt, loosening his grip on Arawn’s neck. The hunter pulled free from Magog’s hands and snatched up his blade once more.


At this moment, the pit hissed and sprayed blood once more. Arawn flinched and turned to look at it as well. Struck by horror, he backed up as he saw what was coming out of the pit. A mass of unidentifiable flesh writhed and swelled as it rolled itself over the edge of the pit and out onto the ground. Strange, pointed tentacles burst from its back(?) and slapped at the ground wetly as if feeling its surroundings. It resembled the previous… thing, but this abomination was infinitely more disgusting.


While Arawn stood frozen by the sight of this creature, Magog had moved back to the table and snatched up the strange disc. In his grasp, it lit up with a blinding light that startled Arawn out of his trance. The light seemed to awaken the creature as well. The strange bumps along its body opened up to reveal a variety of eyes. They were in all sorts of different colors and shapes, but one thing was certain. They were the eyes of feral animals.


All of the eyes focused on Arawn with an intensity that sent shivers down his spine. The creature scrambled across the floor wildly as it honed in on his position. Despite the fact that it only came up to his waist, Arawn found himself stepping back from its charge. As he came back to his senses, Arawn threw himself to the side to avoid the monster. It flailed wildly with its tentacles and slid across the ground until it dug them into the ground and spun itself around.


When it charged again, Arawn sidestepped neatly and brought his knife down to sever several tentacles in a single blow. The monster seemed to rage at this, growing slightly larger and becoming a deeper shade of red. The stumps writhed grossly, the surface bending and contorting as something pushed at it from underneath. New tentacles broke through and replaced the old ones that Arawn had cut off.


These tentacles slashed at Arawn with a razor-sharp edge cutting a shallow line across the hunter’s cheek as he jerked back to avoid it. He groaned at the sudden regeneration, knowing that the creature was more difficult to defeat that he’d expected. While it wasn’t very strong, its regeneration was nothing to scoff at.


He immediately switched strategies and turned to face Magog. He hurriedly launched himself at the surprised orc, aiming for the still glowing disc in his hands. Arawn knew that the disc, whatever it was, had something to do with the monster attacking him. If he could get his hands on it, then maybe he’d be able to stop the creature.


However, Magog recovered from his surprise quickly, sending a heavy fist in the direction of Arawn’s chest. Arawn changed directions quickly as well, leaping to the side and narrowly avoiding the fist. The creature, which had been hot on Arawn’s trail, failed to stop itself and slammed into Magog.


The pair tumbled backwards and landed on the table, which collapsed under their combined weight. The disc slipped from Magog’s hand and slid across the floor in the ensuing confusion. Arawn snatched it up from the ground victoriously, only to try to pull back in shock.


The moment he touched the disc, it shone brighter than ever before. Arawn tried to drop it, only to find that he had lost control of his hand. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t release his grip. Impulsively, he smashed his arm into the closest wall once, then twice. The disc seemed to have cracked slightly. Emboldened by this, Arawn slammed his hand against the wall repeatedly, lengthening the crack more and more.


Suddenly, the disc snapped with a loud crack and a bright flash of light. The disc seemed to explode into flames, burning away at Arawn’s hand. Luckily, the strange adhesive properties seemed to have worn off with the damage applied to the disc. Arawn flung it away across the room, where it landed on the ground and continued to burn.


The strange flames seemed to have been the last straw for the monster. It swelled violently upon the arrival of the flames and burst into a pile of flesh and fluids. Magog, who had just managed to rise to his feet from under the monster, was painted red and covered with little bits of meat.


The large orc seized violently for a moment, releasing a horrid screech as the disc burned before him. He collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut and remained still. Arawn strode over and poked at the downed orc gingerly with his foot. He relaxed and removed a length of rope from his ever trusty bag. Arawn secured the unconscious Magog and dragged him away from the mess left by the creature.


Soon enough, the orc began to stir with a loud groan. He opened his eyes - green now, Arawn noted, not red - and blinked groggily. He glanced around at his surroundings before focusing in on Arawn.


“A...Ah...W-Who are you?... Where… Where am I?” he asked hazily. “W-Why am I tied up?” He begins to struggle against his bonds but soon froze when he saw what he was covered with. Magog fainted immediately at the sight of the gory mess.


Arawn blinked in amazement at the sudden amnesia. It was simply too convenient for the orc to have lost his memories at this specific moment in time. He decided to interrogate Magog to discover the truth. Upstairs, he decided, looking around at his revolting surroundings. Arawn picked up the disc, which had long since ceased to burn with flames, and observed it.


Its previously silver surface had been burnt black by the flames. The disc seemed to be more like a medallion, as Arawn thought he could see the traces of some sort of engraving or markings on its face. Unfortunately, the surface of the disc had been charred beyond recognition.


Sighing unhappily, Arawn pocketed the medallion with a wince. His left hand had been burnt when the medallion first burst into flames, leaving patchy red marks all along his palm and wrist. Grumbling discontentedly, he moved back to the large orc to begin the difficult task of moving him.

____________


After somehow miraculously transporting Magog up the ladder and into the living room, Arawn had interrogated him with a knife at his throat. Unsurprisingly, Magog was very compliant to Arawn’s questions. Unfortunately, it seemed that the orc really had no idea what was going on. While he remembered most of his activities over the past few weeks, Magog didn’t remember a single detail about what he did after leaving work and before returning home. He seemed to not know what the medallion was, or who owned the house the pair were in. While it was suspicious, Arawn was inclined to believe the orc. He eventually decided to leave the decision of what to do to the guild. He certainly wasn’t just trying to push his work off on others. Now to tell Magog's fiance...

@Lenaia

 

A black cat with an owl perched on its back arrived in the guild. It carried a paper in its moth that it placed on the desk.

((@AliceShiki))

Spoiler: Report

Day 1: I went to visit Lina to find out more about her story. But unfortunately I hadn’t eaten anything, so instead of asking about Lina’s dad, I ended up mooching some food off them. I promised to catch all the rats in their house in exchange for the food though! Don’t know if they appreciate my gesture though...


Day 2: Lina agreed to accompany me in the journey. She said I’m a bit..umm....unreliable? But how can I be unreliable!? I’m the super-strong Neko-Tan who has defeated the strongest of enemies! ...okay they weren’t actually super strong but atleast I have my cute little owl that I haven’t yet thought up a name for... Ah, well back to the topic, We set out of the town in search of Lina’s dad. We don’t exactly know his whereabouts, but there have been reports of a lich attacking a village in the north. We decided to scout the village for signs of Lina’s dad.


Day 3: We found a stable that would let us borrow horses for 1 copper each...The horses didn’t look like they’d survive the journey though. Well, we gotta make do with what we have. We had just left for the journey when a raven came flying towards us. Or rather, a raven’s corpse came flying at us. I rushed to protect Lina as any adventurer would, but before it hit us, it burst into pieces, emitting a screeching sound, saying “Go to the East!” Lina was shaken, but ordered me to continue moving northward. She belived it was her father’s necromancy rival’s raven that was trying to dissuade us. We sped up our journey, hoping that we would reach in two days instead of the usual three.


Day 4: As we journeyed northward, the strange occurrences increased. First it was the dead ravens, then dead rodents, and today morning a whole dead cow had come our way. Lina was now certain that these were her father’s enemy’s actions as we hurried northward. It was getting colder, and I shivered despite my clothes (that’s why frills are useless!)


Day 5: We finally arrived at the village. We hoped to find someone to know more of the situation, but there were none in sight —they were killed perhaps. There was a forest nearby that was rumoured to be a haven for evil creatures. As we turned towards the forest, an oddly human voice shouted “HALT!!” We turned around to ascertain who it was. It turned out to be a skeleton-like(?) thing. Seeing it, Lina shouted, “Father!? I knew you would be here!” Lina’s father replied in a raspy voice, “Alright, alright, now that we know I’m her—“, but before he could complete his words, there was a loud bang near us. Another eerily human voice spoke. “I told ya ta give up on yer’ family an’ join me fer the war, didn’t I? What’re ya doin’ followin’ yer daughter like a stupid puppy! Imma knock some sense in ya!” Huh...so turns out Lina’s dad had been following us all the way. Lina’s dad retorted, “How could I let my cute Lina go out alone!? What if some good-for-nothing took fancy to her!? As her father I have to protect-“. Once again, a bang. Tsk, tsk, what a sorry excuse for a villain. He can’t even complete his sentences. The other necromancer attacked Lina as he spoke, “Then how about if yer daughter was never ‘ere? Y’all join me fer’ the war, won’t ya?” He lunged at Lina. I rushed towards Lina to get her away from the attack. Alas, both Lina and I faced the full brunt of the attack...Huh, we didn’t? Turns out Lina’s dad had blocked the attack for us. The other necromancer screamed, “What’re ya doin’ taking a undeadification magic full on!? I was helping yer’ daughter join our ranks. Tch, look, now I have to destroy you both!” He chanted a spell for some scary-looking magic. I rushed to the front, hoping I’d take the full brunt of the magic. The magic rushed towards me. But before it hit me, my amulet shone. The attack was reflected as my vision slowly dimmed...


Night 5: I woke up to the worried gazes of Lina and her father. But they seemed oddly huge. Or was I the one who had turned small? I flicked my tail in confusion. ...Wait? Tail? Had I turned into a cat? I chanted the spell to turn back human, but to my surprise, it was ineffective. Was it the effect of the amulet? Well, Lina seemed to have guessed I had turned into a cat. Her father too seemed oddly docile. I wonder what she told him to turn him into that. He seemed to be continuously muttering, “No, don’t tell your mom, she’ll kill me!” Hey, aren’t you dead? Well, nevermind. Lina had swiped a few gold from the necromancer’s lair. Looked like she could now cure her father after all!


Day 7: We journeyed homeward. It was pretty uneventful, except for Lina’s dad’s continuous muttering. Well, atleast her dad was using his powers to speed up the journey.


Night 7: As we arrived in town, Lina hurried to Lyra’s house to treat her father. She promised me she would treat me to sardines the next time we meet. I gave my collar to Lina, hoping that Lyra would recognise it and help her out.


Well, all’s well that ends well?

Spoiler: Notes

→Aftereffects of the amulet last for 3 days.

→ Lina stitched the necromancer’s clothes into a new dress for Xionlige. Frilly dress + new collar get!

→The owl was scouting in the air during the fight. She needs training.

 

After seeing a bandit nomad find out had happened to the receptionist who gave him permission to do the quest. Finn slowly shifted to another receptionist desk.

Spoiler: Cutting off Slippery hands

After moving through a crowded market place, Finn stumbled back into a deserted alleyway. Making sure nobody followed him, he emptied his pockets revealing a small pile of wooden crests.

"Wow, the security of this place is worse than I thought.”

Normally there would only be one guild controlling this place but it seemed like the guards leaving had a larger effect than he expected. With the different guilds of area walking around like they owned the place. Well~, if he was being perfectly honest the festival might have something to do with it too. There wouldn't be this many high ranking members here otherwise.

Honestly why bother fighting for scraps when there was a giant herd of fat sheep just waiting to be butchered.

“Hah, well if it's going to be like this then. I guess I'll do what I’m told to.”

After checking his dagger, he slipped back into the crowd. The funny thing about bandits is that they never expect a dagger to the throat. Like never, especially when their friends are busy threatening shop keepers. And, for only a crest per kill even he could get off scott free. Which was a quite a steal if you asked him. Not to mention the extra safety net the crowd gave him made the entire thing pretty much risk free. The only issue was stabbing the guys carrying the bodies through the crowd.

Which luckily was already taken care of with the help of the friendly neighborhood bandit guilds. It was just a shame he couldn't get credit for their help.

-Killed 6 Bandits
-Gained 2 random bandit crests

@Quaesitor

 

"Ah, you completed the quest without complications, great! I just hope that the crab is still completely edible, even when cursed. Anyway, 22 Large Copper Coins for you to split up as you like, and 4 Guild Points for each of you."

 

Due to the surprising absence of the constructs usually doing this receptionist's job, Garret decides to take care of this report. After reading it, he frowns.

"I didn't expect a result like this from this quest. This is worrisome. Don't worry, will look into this issue. But... may I suggest not telling his wife about that? Anyway, here are your 7 large copper coins, and your 4 guild points."

 

After looking at the cat carrying a paper in is mouth for a few seconds, Garret sighs and starts muttering to himself. "This is normal, I've seen worse. This is normal..."

After a few seconds, he turns towards it. "Due to Aria's current absence, I'll be taking care of this report."

After quickly reading through it, he says: "Well, the problem ear solved, even if through an unconventional way, so I guess I can sign this off as completed. Here are your 12 large copper coins, and 4 guild points. Next time, please don't throw yourself into the way of unknown spells again okay?"

 

"I see that there were no problems in the quest, but may I ask you to try and not kill the bandits in broad daylight in a crowd the next time you do something like that? Even if they are bandits, someone still has to clean that up, and it's not really beneficial for the public mood in regards to the upcoming festival. Well, that's good next time though. Here are your 6 large copper coins, and 4 guild points."

 

"Ah,"

Sweating heavily, at the thought he could've got fined or worse if the one of the city guards caught him doing this. He forced a smile for the receptionist, saying

"That's my bad, I'll be more careful about my surroundings next time,"

Next time he'll just use poison. Stuff cost money but the benefits of nonfinery was too much to give up on. Anyways later on he could claim the bodies near the base. Not the best option for the shop keepers but it was probably better than having a bunch of pissed of bandits stuck in a market place.

 

"My employee said that the curse lasted temporarily, so it should be fine."

 

Maga was asleep for quite a time and almost forgot to hand in the report. Maga hopes he won't be been marked failed on this quest for his drinking money.

Spoiler: Report

Maga left the receptionist table drunk. The sun has yet to rise and the streets are filled with only a couple of people. These adventurer's coaches tend to leave before sunrise so that the adventurers can start and finish their quest earlier without needing to stay in town to sleep, clearly an adventurer’s guild service quality.

Maga, while stumbling, weaved straight out of town to look for a coachman. The coachmen on the station, after seeing Maga from a distance, almost immediately fled inside the coach if not for Maga’s adventurer badge. While most did not flee, most were on their toes in case Maga would try something suspicious. The coachmen were sending eye messages fighting on who’s going to take the strange adventurer.

“Sir Coachman? Did something happen?”

Probably lured by the commotion, a woman geared in while clerical robes alighted the slightly looking better stagecoach. The woman cleric looked around and asked. Her face, while not otherworld in beauty, is teeming with kindness and grace,

“!!!”

but that changed when her eyes set on Maga, her face was colored in shock. Not a while after, She immediately talked to the coachman who she rides with,

“I sense something sinister from that man, can you please let him ride so I could diagnose him?”

The coachman assented and made Maga climb up. Maga took a step inside the stagecoach. There were 5 adventurers inside the special stagecoach; A rough looking man donned in silver armor, A soft looking child in expensive leather armor, A male samurai, Beast girl in tribal attire, and the cleric.

“Hello, you can come on in, don’t be shy.”

“Sir Roger, this person’s is what caused the commotion outside.”

“Oh, I see, another victim is it?”

“If the cleric brings him in then it might be so.”

The people inside, even with Maga’s special trait, were stonefaced. The cleric put her hands on the face and casts the spell [Sleep] on Maga. Maga directly fall flat on the floor, the swordsman moved Maga to the center facing forward.

“Oh, there’s definitely something strange inside this person. I can feel my body trying to resist touching him.” Said the swordsman,

“Uwa~ what an aura!” Said the beastman girl,

“Do you think it’s a curse?” Said the soft looking scout,

“…” the samurai was asleep.

The cleric kneeled down beside Maga and started her experiments. “[Cure] [Blessing] [Purify]” The cleric tried a few spells, Maga shows signs of healing but moments after the curse came back fully erect now in a magnitude affecting the air. All were shocked since they knew how powerful the spells of the cleric.

“What a powerful curse.” The swordsman commented, it seems like he was now slightly sweating.

“Nnn~ I don’t think it’s a curse. Well, it might as well be one...”

The cleric said while she was exhausted recovering her lost mana from casting High Tier curative spells. The other 3 people inside leaned forward and wait for the cleric’s next word,

“He is cursed by fate.”

“””Ooh…””” The 3 people made a sad look, they knew very well what it means.

Spell, for most people, are affinity-based. Like the Cleric having an affinity for curative spells, can use heal better. However, there’s a certain spell those with affinity cannot avoid, another example for the Cleric is that her presence could give peace of mind to those who see her or [Charisma]. Maga is the exact opposite of that, his presence could induce bad effects when seen, like aggroing every people he met when he is drunk. The sad thing is that they cannot be cured with magic or spells except manipulator class spells.

The cleric gave up, she didn’t know that the passive spell is only active when Maga is in a drunk state. Not long, Maga arrived at his destination and disembarked the coachman, his aura is long gone which in turn confused the people inside. Still, the cleric had other ways to cure Maga. The cleric went after Maga who left and handed over a piece of paper.

“Well, I know you're in the middle of your quest but please contact me whenever you’re free, okay?”

Maga nodded and walked away.
…

Maga walked to the Gates all sobered up.

“Go in. We have seen the carriage you were riding so no need to confirm everything. Still…”

The Orc Guard surveyed Maga from top to bottom.

“You are dressed pretty lightly for a C-rank adventurer.”

Maga just went inside the gate without saying anything, he has seen the people inside the slightly-different-from-average carriage dress like veteran adventurers, so he cannot deny…

“A godsend. Do come in.”

Maga arrived at the house of his client. The orc greeted Maga, however, despite the happy countenance, its face was scary. Maga on the other hand just thought that the orc looks like a normal grumpy old guy.

Maga went along and did a few test.

Attempt 1: Tickling. Failed.
Attempt 2: Bad Joke. Failed.
Attempt 3: Roleplay. Failed
Attempt 4 - 10: Use of Blunt Force. Failed.

“Haa~ haa~ smiling is hard.”

The orc was panting. Despite its efforts to smile, it always backfires. And it took almost a day to make all those attempts. Well, with all said, it’s about time the quest ended and they made no progress. The fiancee arrived and the orc had to flee outdoors… Maga was entirely speechless (and confused).
...

“Oh! So you’re that C-rank adventurer? It’s so nice knowing someone who is successful in that adventurer career.”

Maga’s momentary confusion made him unable to escape. Well, it’s not a problem since he can just hide what he was in for. Maga thought to himself he should try having the fiancee focus on himself.

“You’re wrong. I’m still a newbie. Adventuring is something I’ve come across just recently.”

The waifu was silent for a second, Maga’s plan made the wife recall about a certain request secretly made by the orc to help him with his request...

“...so are you here for my husband's request? *sigh* I told him to forget about it… Soo, stubborn.”

“Ohw, we’re in a nut. Man, we men sure are stubborn.”

Those comments somehow made Maga laugh. Maga, from experience, knows how men can’t stand shortcomings and hide behind their facade. He doesn’t need any explanation why men are stubborn when it comes to showing they are legit “man” to someone they love. The orc wife also understood from looking at his hardworking soon to be husband.

“Maybe I’ll just have to live with what I have. Though I really want my soon to be husband to get along with our neighbors.”

Maga and the wife agreed that the orc is fine as he is. Therefore Maga’s stop making his attempt and changed his goal to having an honest talk with the requestor orc.

The Orc was waiting outside the lawn having a drink.

“I am lucky to have a fiancee, well get married and have a happy life. But somehow, my Orc blood won’t settle.”

Maga took a sit. He took the other liquor filled glass and drank from it. The grumpy orc resumed,

“Humans have it easy. They can be weak and survive, they won’t have to worry about a lot of things.”

The orc’s drunk spiel did not sit right with Maga. For one, Maga also had a problem of weakness prior to his adventuring job. Second, the root of the problem was more or less the same as the sad orc.

“Humans had it worse. Women are sensitive and unforgiving. You left them for a year and come back, they will leave for good.”

“Actually orcs have it worse-”

Maga and the grumpy orc argued back and forth on who’s worse off. They weren’t able to take it that someone’s worse off than them, tarted getting pissed, and punched each other.

Maga was a strong and buff sailor, the orc was a naturally strong warrior. It goes without saying that the orc won. Still, that gave the orc solace like he has been freed of a problem. He laughed hardt and Maga sprawling on the ground laughed as if infected by the Orcs laughter. They both think they can only laugh at how stupid the problem and situation is. They laugh to chase their problems away.

The night before, Maga dreamt of his wife who he was married for 2 years. Maga’s wife was an old fashion girl who love the sea. His wife loved him, but Maga’s long journey and immediate return eventually wear that off and it came to the point where she, his wife, couldn’t take it and had to divorce. What Maga dreamt of was a bittersweet memory of them getting married.

Maga woke up a day after, the wedding started has way started. Maga, with his instinct, look for where the people is mostly wearing black and white. Maga alter is coming to ruin the orcs wedding, on top of not fulfilling his quest. Maga came closer and closer and certainly, all people could feel their blood run cold. They look back and saw the monstrous aura Maga was emitting.

All the people in the venue went nuts. Some soldiers forgot they did not bring any weapons and that served as a reason to be confused, that as if robbed from it by Maga.

Meanwhile, the orc was able to identify him as Maga and ran from the stage to the gate in order to protect him, unknowingly using a gentle/convincing face. The onlookers were agressive so he took Maga away from the venue. The orc, remembering his conversation with Maga, was now all fine with a failed marriage.

“So… this is how scary you are when drunk. I can only imagine this was the reason why your wife left you.”

The orc remembered how the adults react to Maga. He knew that most people would be fine with him even his fiancee. However, it’s a different matter for Maga, the moment he hold Maga’s hand, he felt bugs crept all the way to his neck. He endured it since it was his dear friend and somehow it chase those illusions away.

…
The guards rushed in and looked for Maga who started the streams of report they asked the bride-to-be orc,

“Ma’am, what happened here?”

The bride orc actually witnessed the orc smiling back when both Maga and he were drinking, and today, just now, he witnessed a wry smiling orc trying to defend his friend. She made those comments about wanting to see his soon-to-be-husband smile in the first place because she wanted the orc to have at least one friends. But seeing the situation, the wife orc thought that in order for his husband to have friends he needs to associate with few strong and braindead orcs.

“He is my husband’s friend, he had too much of liquor yesterday. Please understand.”

The wife explained that he was the adventurer who took his husband’s request and got drunk. The guards supplemented that he was rank-C that’s why he was strong and was deemed innocent seeing as there was no harm done.

Maga was escorted by the guards to the same carriage, they were actually instructed to bring Maga back to the same carriage which he disembarked. Maga was put to sleep again and returned back to the guild.

Spoiler: Notes

The stagecoach he was riding was specifically a C-Rank Stagecoach.

@Lenaia

{{My plan is to eventually drag down Maga to a normal level. I’ll make him undergo force evolution in each quest. I just started writing it, bad decision xD}}

 

"Mr Maga, I guess you've done as you asked. But..." the construct leaned forward, the top of its veil slipping to reveal some kind of grotesque mouth almost as wide as its face, full of jagged teeth in circular formation. "...do tone down the public disturbances, yes? It's unpleasant to deal with those reports."

It returned to its position, covering itself up smoothly.

"Your reward is nine large coppers and four guild points, congratulations."

 

Nero entered the guild and submitted the report.
@Lenaia , @Zero300 ,@WhitesRabbit48 , @Heckaton

Spoiler: report

Grendel, Lethe, Nero and Zinc

After Grendel accepted the quest along with the other adventurers, he parted ways with them and hurriedly returned to his camp to start packing up. This quest will be a long one, and he wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Lethe wasn’t exactly sure why he had accepted this quest as he had always been a subpar swimmer. Nevertheless, there he was– in his sleeping bag, lazing about, right in front of the tavern. They had agreed to meet there the day before, so Lethe had just spent the night there to get in as much sleep as rabbitly possible.

The sun was about to rise as Nero made his way to the tavern. He had expected to be the first to arrive but was given a shock when he found Lethe at the meeting point, soundly asleep in his sleeping bag.

"This can't be. He must have been camping here since yesterday. Yeah, that must be it", Nero rationalized the unexpected event in his mind as he moved slowly and sat next to Lethe. Deciding that it would be fine to let Lethe sleep during the journey, he shook the rabbitkin awake.

Arriving at the tavern in the next morning, Grendel spotted two of the three adventurers he decided to party up with yesterday, a large four-armed man and a small white rabbitkin.He greeted them as he approached, "Good morning! I see the two of you are an early riser as well!"

Zinc showed up last as he observed his party. There were two warriors and one summoner. Not really a good lineup especially against water elementals but they had to make do. The night before, Zinc had quickly concocted a few drinkable medicines to combat any sinus problems that may arise from swimming or diving underwater. While underwater, the body will be constantly bashed with coldness. To help with that, Zinc concocted some medicine using 'warm herbs' such as peppermint, finely ground cockleburs, extract of magnolia flowers, and extract from wild celery roots.

As Zinc arrived at his party's meeting place, the doctor handed each of his party a small rotect jar of the liquid. "Make sure to take this half an hour before we enter the sea for maximum benefits."

Receiving the small jar from the newly arrived adventurer, Grendel eyed the liquid for a moment before storing it in his pouch.

"Thanks for the potion. By the way, I don't think I've introduced myself properly yesterday. So, once again, I'm Grendel, a pleasure to meet you. I hope I can be of help to you in this quest."

Lethe rubbed his eyes and yawned trying to wake up enough to function at, at least a basic level. Even though he was still rather out of it, Lethe successfully held onto the rotect jar Zinc had handed to him and simultaneously looked at this Grendel person with a doubtful look in his eyes. Seemed like he was one of those crazy "morning people."

"Mornin'," Lethe then managed to mumble out whilst struggling to keep his eyelids at least partially open. After a brief pause to gather enough energy to continue speaking, Lethe turned to Zinc and added: "Thanks."

Nero accepted the jar of liquid gratefully and turned to Grendel, "Nice to meet you too. I'm Nero, just in case you forgot my name." It was not often that Nero had the opportunity to interact with someone of a similar stature and felt a sense of comradery form towards Grendel.

Now that all of them had assembled, it made sense to get going. Nero led the way towards the southern end of the town. The plan was to board a boat from the nearest river tributary and traverse the waters to get to the Great Maelstrom.

After paying the fee of 5 large copper each, the party boarded the ferry which headed for Nyllia. Two days later, they arrived in a small village near the maelstrom to look for the requester merfolk, Blanc.

It didn’t take much to find her as she had been anxiously awaiting the adventurer’s arrival.

“Ah, um, excuse me! Are you, are you all the adventurers sent to help find my daughter, Jibs?”

Lethe gave a nod and the worried mother breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank goodness! I’m Blanc! I’ve been so worried and been feeling so awful about just sitting around. Here, follow me. I found you all a guide to help navigate your way through the Maelstrom. Hopefully it will help you all find my baby faster...”

Blanc asked the group to wait for a few minutes as she dived underwater and disappeared. After waiting for approximately five minutes, she resurfaced along with another merfolk.

"Rubin is really familiar with the waters leading up to the maelstrom", Blanc introduced the merman to the adventurers.

"Let me up", were Rubin's first words to the group as Nero dropped a life buoy overboard and pulled him up. The bearded mermans upper half was of a similar build as a regular human and and had a long, grey tail for a lower half. He reached into his knapsack and took out a detailed map of the river currents and spread it on the floor before launching into a monologue about the various currents that are in play due to the maelstrom. With that, he detailed certain areas to be careful during the journey and the ways to navigate around the currents.

After Grendel accepted the quest along with the other adventurers, he parted ways with them and hurriedly returned to his camp to start packing up. This quest will be a long one, and he wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Lethe wasn’t exactly sure why he had accepted this quest as he had always been a subpar swimmer. Nevertheless, there he was– in his sleeping bag, lazing about, right in front of the tavern. They had agreed to meet there the day before, so Lethe had just spent the night there to get in as much sleep as rabbitly possible.

The sun was about to rise as Nero made his way to the tavern. He had expected to be the first to arrive but was given a shock when he found Lethe at the meeting point, soundly asleep in his sleeping bag.

"This can't be. He must have been camping here since yesterday. Yeah, that must be it", Nero rationalized the unexpected event in his mind as he moved slowly and sat next to Lethe. Deciding that it would be fine to let Lethe sleep during the journey, he shook the rabbitkin awake.

Arriving at the tavern in the next morning, Grendel spotted two of the three adventurers he decided to party up with yesterday, a large four-armed man and a small white rabbitkin.He greeted them as he approached, "Good morning! I see the two of you are an early riser as well!"

Zinc showed up last as he observed his party. There were two warriors and one summoner. Not really a good lineup especially against water elementals but they had to make do. The night before, Zinc had quickly concocted a few drinkable medicines to combat any sinus problems that may arise from swimming or diving underwater. While underwater, the body will be constantly bashed with coldness. To help with that, Zinc concocted some medicine using 'warm herbs' such as peppermint, finely ground cockleburs, extract of magnolia flowers, and extract from wild celery roots.

As Zinc arrived at his party's meeting place, the doctor handed each of his party a small rotect jar of the liquid. "Make sure to take this half an hour before we enter the sea for maximum benefits."

Receiving the small jar from the newly arrived adventurer, Grendel eyed the liquid for a moment before storing it in his pouch.

"Thanks for the potion. By the way, I don't think I've introduced myself properly yesterday. So, once again, I'm Grendel, a pleasure to meet you. I hope I can be of help to you in this quest."

Lethe rubbed his eyes and yawned trying to wake up enough to function at, at least a basic level. Even though he was still rather out of it, Lethe successfully held onto the rotect jar Zinc had handed to him and simultaneously looked at this Grendel person with a doubtful look in his eyes. Seemed like he was one of those crazy "morning people."

"Mornin'," Lethe then managed to mumble out whilst struggling to keep his eyelids at least partially open. After a brief pause to gather enough energy to continue speaking, Lethe turned to Zinc and added: "Thanks."

Nero accepted the jar of liquid gratefully and turned to Grendel, "Nice to meet you too. I'm Nero, just in case you forgot my name." It was not often that Nero had the opportunity to interact with someone of a similar stature and felt a sense of comradery form towards Grendel.

Now that all of them had assembled, it made sense to get going. Nero led the way towards the southern end of the town. The plan was to board a boat from the nearest river tributary and traverse the waters to get to the Great Maelstrom.

After paying the fee of 5 large copper each, the party boarded the ferry which headed for Nyllia. Two days later, they arrived in a small village near the maelstrom to look for the requester merfolk, Blanc.

It didn’t take much to find her as she had been anxiously awaiting the adventurer’s arrival.

“Ah, um, excuse me! Are you, are you all the adventurers sent to help find my daughter, Jibs?”

Lethe gave a nod and the worried mother breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank goodness! I’m Blanc! I’ve been so worried and been feeling so awful about just sitting around. Here, follow me. I found you all a guide to help navigate your way through the Maelstrom. Hopefully it will help you all find my baby faster...”

Blanc asked the group to wait for a few minutes as she dived underwater and disappeared. After waiting for approximately five minutes, she resurfaced along with another merfolk.

"Rubin is really familiar with the waters leading up to the maelstrom", Blanc introduced the merman to the adventurers.

"Let me up", were Rubin's first words to the group as Nero dropped a life buoy overboard and pulled him up. The bearded mermans upper half was of a similar build as a regular human and and had a long, grey tail for a lower half. He reached into his knapsack and took out a detailed map of the river currents and spread it on the floor before launching into a monologue about the various currents that are in play due to the maelstrom. With that, he detailed certain areas to be careful during the journey and the ways to navigate around the currents.

"There is a portal to an elemental plane if we follow this particular current. I think Jibs must have been dragged inside. For now, all you have to do is follow me. I'll go back once we reach the maelstrom", Rubin concluded as he jumped out of the boat and indicated the adventurers to follow his lead.

After reassuring Blanc that they will try their best to save Jibs, the party started following Rubin with the boat provided by Blanc. It was not exactly a big or strong boat, but it should be enough to last the travel. As for the journey towards the maelstrom, it was not exactly easy either, as the four of them need to sail the boat themselves, something clearly none of them has any experience of. Nevertheless, the managed to reach the maelstrom in a few hours

"Wow!"
Grendel voiced his amazement at the spectacular sight in front of him. As its name suggests, the great maelstrom is one giant whirlpool which spans the whole lake. On a glance, the water seemed to revolve gently, but the occasional floating branches and driftwoods proved otherwise. In the center of the maelstrom, the water converged into a giant vortex, creating a hole that goes darker the deeper it went.

While he was admiring the sight, Rubin surfaced next to the boat. "If Jibs fell to the maelstrom, I'd wager she's inside the vortex, dragged by the water current. If you wish to save her, you will need to follow her track there. I myself cannot go any further, so I bid you guys luck, and hopefully, you can save Jibs."

"Everyone, take your potions." Zinc replied as he unscrewed the medicine he prepared earlier today and downed the minty liquid.

Immediately, his body began to feel warm. With a leap, Zinc dove into the cold waters. With the effects of the potion, Zinc felt like he was swimming in a hot spring. "Come on guys, let's go!"

Nero downed his share of the potion in a single gulp and dived into the waters as well. As soon as he went under the surface, he saw a massive current flow beneath him. He decided to dive into the flow which was a few meters below in order to follow the likely path taken by Jibs but as soon as he went in, he lost all ability to control his body. The force of the current was so incredibly strong that he was dragged by the flow without being given any chance to resist. Within moments, he was dragged several hundred feet away from the boat and thrust straight into a massive grayish portal which swallowed him easily.

Following Zinc's advice, Grendel opened the rotect jar and drinks the medicine while glancing at the small rabbitkin beside him who is still dozing off, but then decides he should be okay before taking a deep breath and dived following Zinc and Nero. Upon entering the water, he spotted Nero being dragged by the current and vanished as he entered some sort of portal. Deciding that's the destination they're looking for, Grendel swam towards the portal and entered it too.

Looking dubiously at the Maelstrom, Lethe gave a sigh: once again questioning why he had taken this quest when his swimming skills were what many would call subpar. He was snapped out of his half conscious contemplations by the sound of three successive splashes. Realizing he was going to left behind if he didn’t act quickly, Lethe threw back the potion and swiftly tried to mentally prepare himself for the semi-drowning he knew was to come. Knowing he had no more time to waste, Lethe stepped of the craft and shot straight down. Thankfully, due to his light weight, Lethe didn’t have to do much swimming and was quickly dragged into the depth of the Maelstrom by the current. Unfortunately, he wasn’t entirely prepared for the current’s immense strength and ended up swallowing a few mouthfuls of water in shock before making it through the portal.

The surrounding water turned red as Nero was ejected out of the portal with immense force. He turned around to take a look at his surroundings and was a bit relieved to see the other three had followed him into the other world. The current was still too strong for him to fight against and so, he just gave up on fighting against it. After being carried for a few hundred meters, the flow finally weakened enough that he was able to swim towards the surface which was illuminated by the sun.

The first thing he did upon surfacing was take a few deep breaths and spit out the water that had entered his mouth. As he waited for his companions to surface, he looked around the red water to get a grasp of his surroundings.

Zinc resurfaced after what seemed forever in the swirling currents of the Maelstrom. As he looked about, he found that the surrounding water glowed a hue of crimson. This was clearly not the body of water he had originally jumped into. As the doctor rubbed his eyes hoping that all was just a side effect of his dizziness, he recalled seeing what seem to be a portal during one of the many revolutions he had undergone.Did he entered through it? Could this be another world? Another plane of existence?

Tumbling out of the portal, Lethe barely managed to paddle his way to the shore before he collapsed in a heap choking out the water he had swallowed. When he had finally freed his lungs, Lethe just lied there staring blankly at the crimson tinted world he and his companions found themselves in. Lethe had been randomly teleported to much odder places, so he wasn’t too concerned about the whole thing.

As he lie there greedily inhaling the air, he realize it tasted very familiar– it was just like the taste of the portal that he and Nero had found that led to the Water Elemental Plane. Lethe had just turned to tell his companions of his conclusion on their current location when a not so friendly looking water elemental came shooting over. Not that it made Lethe feel any better, but its presence certainly confirmed his suspicions: they had somehow tumbled into the water elementals’ home turf...

Just as Grendel landed on shore after being thrown to the red sea, he surveyed his surrounding while gasping for breath. It seems the four of them entered the portal underwater the maelstrom and reached this strange island. The reddish sea and sky, coupled with the humid yet cool air indicated that they are at least in a different place, if not in a different plane altogether. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, he saw something in the corner of his vision: a water elemental rushing their way.

Nero noticed the water elemental and slowly lumbered back on his feet. He really didn't want to get into a fight as soon as they had arrived at an unknown location. He grabbed his sword and proceeded to walk towards the elemental. However another elemental suddenly showed up from behind him and the two of them started to fight. A third elemental appeared from the opposite side and gestured the adventurers to follow it. Not expecting such a reception, the adventurers looked at each other before wearily deciding to follow it.

The group walked along the shore of the island and eventually reached a seaside cave which was being guarded by a smaller elemental. Nero peered into the cave to find a little mermaid girl sleeping on a clear pool of blue water.

While Grendel was initially highly wary of the elemental, it soon proved its trustworthiness as it led them to the cave where the small mermaid is. After Nero confirmed Jibs' presence inside, Grendel sighed in relief and asked his party, "So, considering there are also hostile elementals here, I think we should have some of us standing guard here. What do you guys think?"

"I think it's a good idea. I'll provide support and attack from the rear." Zinc replied. "And if possible, I can check on the mermaid's condition and try to concoct something to wake her up."[/QUOTE]

"Yeah, the two of us can act as guards while Zinc treats the mermaid. We need to know if she is the one we are looking for", Nero agreed with Grendel and Zinc. The sound of combat was getting louder and louder and it looked like the fighting would reach them pretty soon.

Lethe had initially followed Zinc over to look at the unconscious mermaid girl, but soon recognized one of the elementals in the cave. He was the one that he and Nero had encountered near Lakeside Village! Wandering up to the elemtal, Lethe asked: “Portal Pals?”

The elemental gave a nod in response, but was rather confused as to why the small fellow seemed rather familiar.

Noticing the elemetal’s confusion, Lethe realized that it only knew his past 3” tall female self. Whoops. The only thing that he could think to show his identity would be to summon Martin– if that was possible... Taking a look at his pillow to assess the situation, Lethe realized that– unbeknownst to him– it had leveled up. It seemed his previous battle experience in combination with the energies of the plane had worked in harmony to upgrade it (hallelujah). The best part about it was that Martin was back in action!

Wasting no time, Lethe called Martin up. Unable to forget the sentient orange blob that had once been pelted at it, the elemental immediately realized the tiny being’s identity and seemed to give a sigh.

Before Zinc went to check on the mermaid, he decided to buff his allies. With a deep howl, the doctor used Boost Howl, increasing his party's strength and speed by 50%. After howling, Zinc rushed towards the unconscious mermaid and checked her pulse. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the young mermaid - no broken bones and only a few bruises. Zinc pressed some acupressure points on the mermaid's face, bringing her out of her coma.

The mermaid looked about with a confused expression. When she saw Zinc, she couldn't help but cower a bit in fear. Zinc held up her palms to indicate that he meant her no harm.

"Are you Jibs?"

"Y-Yes? Who are you? How do you know my name?" The mermaid nodded timidly.

"Your mother sent us to find you. Can you get up?" Zinc explained.

"Ehm." Jibs nodded as she rose up shakily.

While everyone else was busy inside the cave, the sound of fighting had stopped. After a few minutes of silence, a couple of aggressive elementals turned up and headed straight for the cave. Nero picked up his weapons but before he could act, the elemental right next to him went ahead and started to brawl with the others. Nero decided to help the guard and went after one of the enemies as well. With the second elemental left for Grendel to take care of, Nero used his new sword to distract the opponent as well as chip away at its health. While he did take a few blows in the process, the elemental was overwhelmed in a two on one battle and decided to retreat.

Meanwhile, in order to get past the obvious communication barrier, Martin quickly brought out his trusty bell and gave it a ring. Not a moment later, the sound of tumbling rocks and someone cursing under their breath could faintly be heard from the back of the cave. This gave everyone, especially the elemtals who were sure the rest of the cave was empty, a shock. Everyone but Martin and Lethe looked warily in that direction and prepared themselves for battle. Against their expectations, a bedraggled looking translator soon stumbled into sight.

“Man, I am so taking that bell back, I swear. First the sticks, now here, jeez. I am so charging 5 times my usual rate for this one!”

After giving Martin an earful, Jebb turned, acting as if none of that had just happened, and asked the others with a smile: “How may I be of service today?”

Being left to take care of one of the elementals, Grendel faced it off while keeping his distance. Deciding physical attack might not work well on an elemental, Grendel covered his poleaxe with lightning and closed in to deliver a series of attacks. His decision to use his lightning magic proved to be correct, as the elemental's movement is getting more sluggish with each blow that connects. After a few rounds, the elemental decided to retreat, following his brethren.

After the short fight, Nero made his way into the cave. And that's when found a ray of hope in this foreign land.

"Hey, Jebb! We need to find a portal back to our world. Do the elementals know of one?"

Jebb gave Nero a nod of acknowledgement and directed the question back to the elemental. After a few minutes of intense conversation between the two, the elemental seemed to slump down and started walking out of the cave.

"It knows of a portal, and it has agreed to lead us to it", Jebb announced to everyone.

Nero turned his attention to Zinc and the mermaid and asked, "Is she the one?"

"Hello, I'm Jibs", the mermaid replied with a small voice.

"Ok Jibs, I'm Nero and we need to move immediately. I'll carry you to the portal when we are out of water", Nero spoke urgently. When Jibs responded with a nod, Nero picked her up and spoke to his teammates, "Let's get going."

Zinc handed the mermaid to Nero so that he could concoct another patch of cold-resistant medicine. After finishing the last touches, the doctor handed each of his party another small rotect jar of medicine each.

"Once we reach the portal, we need to take this medicine. The effects are like the previous potions. They'll protect you from the cold water." Zinc nodded as he passed the medicine around. "When we arrive on land, don't go anywhere. I need to apply some acupuncture to boost our immune systems in case one or more of us had contracted some sort of illness or bacteria."

Somewhere in that brief period of time, Jebb seemed to have returned in the same manner he had appeared with none the wiser.

The party of adventures (with the addition of one small mermaid) exited the cave after properly receiving and storing the rotect jars. Waiting outside was the elemental who, after seeing that they were all there, signaled for them to keep close before swiftly turning and launching off towards the sounds of the battlefield.

Nero used his meager mana reserves to summon his familiar, Parcae, when they started to move. The tiny winged devil could fly high above the battlefield and scout ahead for danger. By giving regular reports to Nero, the group was able to avoid coming into contact with most of the elementals as they snuck their way around the battlefield. Even when they did come across trouble, the elementals were too busy fighting against each other to react to the suspicious group of aliens disappearing from view.

After a couple of hours of moving around in a tense environment, the group entered a forest and made their way towards an abandoned structure. The water elemental which had led them till now refused to move further and simply pointed to the building.

"I can see a grey portal on the roof", Parcae informed his master telepathically. Nero nodded in confirmation and told everyone of this information. With a way to return home being found, Nero felt that he owed his elemental friend a reward. As they decided to move their own separate ways, Nero handed one of his priced spears to their guide and waved him goodbye.

Lethe quickly summoned Lesovy and had him use his vines to provide an easier way for them to get to the portal on the roof. After everyone had made it to the roof in one piece, they took drank the potion Zinc had provided and entered the portal.

After another nauseating trip through a portal, Lethe and the rest were spit out at the edge of the Maelstrom. They appeared to be in the same general area as where they had first entered the Maelsrtom so did not have a hard time finding their way back to the village. Without a boat at hand, however, the return trip took much longer than their first journey.

When they were within sight of the village, they saw a figure speeding in their direction. As the figure got closer and closer, it was clear that it was Blanc, the little mermaids worried mother. Unable to stand waiting for the adventures to fully reach the village to see her child, Blanc had headed in their direction at top speed.

After having a heartfelt reunion with her daughter, Blanc offered an invitation to the party to stay the night in her house, but were turned down.

"Thank you for the invitation, but we wouldn't want to impose on you. I believe you should spend the time to be with your daughter, instead"

Hearing their refusal, Blanc can only nod while continuing to thank them. After getting their quest completion proof, the party made their way back to Nagrand.

Spoiler: Notes

Jibs has been safely rescued.
War is ongoing at the water elemental plane between two factions.

 

Spoiler: report

"Yeah, the two of us can act as guards while Zinc treats the mermaid. We need to know if she is the one we are looking for", Nero agreed with Grendel and Zinc. The sound of combat was getting louder and louder and it looked like the fighting would reach them pretty soon.

Lethe had initially followed Zinc over to look at the unconscious mermaid girl, but soon recognized one of the elementals in the cave. He was the one that he and Nero had encountered near Lakeside Village! Wandering up to the elemtal, Lethe asked: “Portal Pals?”

The elemental gave a nod in response, but was rather confused as to why the small fellow seemed rather familiar.

Noticing the elemetal’s confusion, Lethe realized that it only knew his past 3” tall female self. Whoops. The only thing that he could think to show his identity would be to summon Martin– if that was possible... Taking a look at his pillow to assess the situation, Lethe realized that– unbeknownst to him– it had leveled up. It seemed his previous battle experience in combination with the energies of the plane had worked in harmony to upgrade it (hallelujah). The best part about it was that Martin was back in action!

Wasting no time, Lethe called Martin up. Unable to forget the sentient orange blob that had once been pelted at it, the elemental immediately realized the tiny being’s identity and seemed to give a sigh.

Before Zinc went to check on the mermaid, he decided to buff his allies. With a deep howl, the doctor used Boost Howl, increasing his party's strength and speed by 50%. After howling, Zinc rushed towards the unconscious mermaid and checked her pulse. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the young mermaid - no broken bones and only a few bruises. Zinc pressed some acupressure points on the mermaid's face, bringing her out of her coma.

The mermaid looked about with a confused expression. When she saw Zinc, she couldn't help but cower a bit in fear. Zinc held up her palms to indicate that he meant her no harm.

"Are you Jibs?"

"Y-Yes? Who are you? How do you know my name?" The mermaid nodded timidly.

"Your mother sent us to find you. Can you get up?" Zinc explained.

"Ehm." Jibs nodded as she rose up shakily.

While everyone else was busy inside the cave, the sound of fighting had stopped. After a few minutes of silence, a couple of aggressive elementals turned up and headed straight for the cave. Nero picked up his weapons but before he could act, the elemental right next to him went ahead and started to brawl with the others. Nero decided to help the guard and went after one of the enemies as well. With the second elemental left for Grendel to take care of, Nero used his new sword to distract the opponent as well as chip away at its health. While he did take a few blows in the process, the elemental was overwhelmed in a two on one battle and decided to retreat.

Meanwhile, in order to get past the obvious communication barrier, Martin quickly brought out his trusty bell and gave it a ring. Not a moment later, the sound of tumbling rocks and someone cursing under their breath could faintly be heard from the back of the cave. This gave everyone, especially the elemtals who were sure the rest of the cave was empty, a shock. Everyone but Martin and Lethe looked warily in that direction and prepared themselves for battle. Against their expectations, a bedraggled looking translator soon stumbled into sight.

“Man, I am so taking that bell back, I swear. First the sticks, now here, jeez. I am so charging 5 times my usual rate for this one!”

After giving Martin an earful, Jebb turned, acting as if none of that had just happened, and asked the others with a smile: “How may I be of service today?”

Being left to take care of one of the elementals, Grendel faced it off while keeping his distance. Deciding physical attack might not work well on an elemental, Grendel covered his poleaxe with lightning and closed in to deliver a series of attacks. His decision to use his lightning magic proved to be correct, as the elemental's movement is getting more sluggish with each blow that connects. After a few rounds, the elemental decided to retreat, following his brethren.

After the short fight, Nero made his way into the cave. And that's when found a ray of hope in this foreign land.

"Hey, Jebb! We need to find a portal back to our world. Do the elementals know of one?"

Jebb gave Nero a nod of acknowledgement and directed the question back to the elemental. After a few minutes of intense conversation between the two, the elemental seemed to slump down and started walking out of the cave.

"It knows of a portal, and it has agreed to lead us to it", Jebb announced to everyone.

Nero turned his attention to Zinc and the mermaid and asked, "Is she the one?"

"Hello, I'm Jibs", the mermaid replied with a small voice.

"Ok Jibs, I'm Nero and we need to move immediately. I'll carry you to the portal when we are out of water", Nero spoke urgently. When Jibs responded with a nod, Nero picked her up and spoke to his teammates, "Let's get going."

Zinc handed the mermaid to Nero so that he could concoct another patch of cold-resistant medicine. After finishing the last touches, the doctor handed each of his party another small rotect jar of medicine each.

"Once we reach the portal, we need to take this medicine. The effects are like the previous potions. They'll protect you from the cold water." Zinc nodded as he passed the medicine around. "When we arrive on land, don't go anywhere. I need to apply some acupuncture to boost our immune systems in case one or more of us had contracted some sort of illness or bacteria."

Somewhere in that brief period of time, Jebb seemed to have returned in the same manner he had appeared with none the wiser.

The party of adventures (with the addition of one small mermaid) exited the cave after properly receiving and storing the rotect jars. Waiting outside was the elemental who, after seeing that they were all there, signaled for them to keep close before swiftly turning and launching off towards the sounds of the battlefield.

Nero used his meager mana reserves to summon his familiar, Parcae, when they started to move. The tiny winged devil could fly high above the battlefield and scout ahead for danger. By giving regular reports to Nero, the group was able to avoid coming into contact with most of the elementals as they snuck their way around the battlefield. Even when they did come across trouble, the elementals were too busy fighting against each other to react to the suspicious group of aliens disappearing from view.

After a couple of hours of moving around in a tense environment, the group entered a forest and made their way towards an abandoned structure. The water elemental which had led them till now refused to move further and simply pointed to the building.

"I can see a grey portal on the roof", Parcae informed his master telepathically. Nero nodded in confirmation and told everyone of this information. With a way to return home being found, Nero felt that he owed his elemental friend a reward. As they decided to move their own separate ways, Nero handed one of his priced spears to their guide and waved him goodbye.

Lethe quickly summoned Lesovy and had him use his vines to provide an easier way for them to get to the portal on the roof. After everyone had made it to the roof in one piece, they took drank the potion Zinc had provided and entered the portal.

After another nauseating trip through a portal, Lethe and the rest were spit out at the edge of the Maelstrom. They appeared to be in the same general area as where they had first entered the Maelsrtom so did not have a hard time finding their way back to the village. Without a boat at hand, however, the return trip took much longer than their first journey.

When they were within sight of the village, they saw a figure speeding in their direction. As the figure got closer and closer, it was clear that it was Blanc, the little mermaids worried mother. Unable to stand waiting for the adventures to fully reach the village to see her child, Blanc had headed in their direction at top speed.

After having a heartfelt reunion with her daughter, Blanc offered an invitation to the party to stay the night in her house, but were turned down.

"Thank you for the invitation, but we wouldn't want to impose on you. I believe you should spend the time to be with your daughter, instead"

Hearing their refusal, Blanc can only nod while continuing to thank them. After getting their quest completion proof, the party made their way back to Nagrand.

Spoiler: Notes

Jibs has been safely rescued.
War is ongoing at the water elemental plane between two factions.

[/QUOTE]
((How am i supposed to say it... you're breaking canons? Yeah, let's go with that. The elemental plane is a representation of that element, you'll hardly find anything but water in the water elemental plane. Much less a shore. Even if they have those, I doubt water elementals would want anything to do on land, especially to the point of fighting there.

*sigh* I'm not paid to deal with this. @AliceShiki your judgment on what to retcon, but for now I'll approve the quest.))

"...I'd question the validity of your report, but the kid returned so that's none of my concern. I'll just hand it over to Fu if he ever shows up again. Good job, I guess? Your reward, 96 large coppers and 16 guild points to split any way you like."

 

Can we say that we went to a place that we misidentified as the elemental plane? Would that work?