Spectres & Skin: Exodus

by RJ Creed

  Lucky that she was a player, and not inclined to try to end my life by snitching on me to the higher-ups. It seemed like she was just happy to help me out, at least for now.

  We made our way to the farmhouse by the time the merchant had settled his horse into its stable, and unpacked the few sacks of produce that he still had in his cart. As he lugged them up the pathway to his front door, we stepped up and smiled, and he looked immediately panicked. I chose to take this as a good sign, actually: he was afraid of the Collective. Maybe because he had done something wrong he was afraid of being caught for, or maybe because he had had a bad experience with the group in past. Either way, it could actually bode well for our negotiations in the long run.

  “Sir,” I said as we strode up to him. “I have some good news I’ve been told by the Father to share around the farmlands nearby.”

  “Good news, huh?” he grunted, and shook his head. “I’m not interested in picking up anything that lot are putting down — no disrespect to you fine people — but I just want to go home to my wife after a long day.”

  I pulled out the paper and presented it to him. It was no longer sealed officially, but hopefully he would still believe it was legit. He read it with an air of boredom at first, but then his eyes widened by the time he reached the end. “What’s the catch? Wait. What’s the catch?” The man read it again, and then once more, his hands trembling ever so slightly. “Meeting our quotas. Then, if this is real, that’s fair. That’s actually fair. What gives?” He handed it back to me, looking so utterly perplexed that I couldn’t help but grin.

  “Yeah, we managed to talk him into it, because it’s better that we have farmed land nearby than none, right? It was about time something changed.”

  “I agree…” He looked utterly astonished. “Is there something I can do for you fine folk?”

  “I’m glad you asked, actually,” I said, and then nodded at his door. “We have a rather … controversial favour to ask of you. Could we get inside to the quiet?”

  The man rubbed at the stubble on his neck and looked unnerved at the thought, but then appeared to think it through, and then nodded. “What’s it to do with?” he asked as we stepped through the threshold and into his cozy home. Clearly he did not trust us, and he had every reason not to.

  “It’s delicate,” Xanthe offered and helped herself to a seat on a sturdy wooden chair by the fire. I caught sight of a woman who would have been the man’s wife, gasping at the sight of us and hopping out of sight into another room. We were really feared. I was looking forward to the moment when that may no longer be true.

  “My name is Pollux,” the man said, settling down.

  “Matthew,” I introduced. “And this is Xanthe.” Pollux nodded at us each in turn but his tense muscles didn’t relax, and his eyes never stopped glancing to the door, and the white wolf who was inadvertently blocking his exit. “You may have noticed the spectre by now,” I said. He nodded rapidly. “Do you know what it means?”

  “It means you’re the most loyal servant to the Collective that has entered the order in thirty years,” he muttered. “And signals the return of their — er, our? — goddess to Pax.” His hands still had a slight tremble to them and I wondered if it was permanent or fully related to our presence.

  “Not quite,” I said. “It means that I am supposed to do something, sure, but no one has told me what. I have no interest in the Collective. I have what I wanted from them.” I nodded at the wolf as I said this. It wasn’t true — I had had no idea that I would receive Moro from the Initiation, but I was partially echoing Ryken when I said this. “I now have to follow my own destiny.”

  “Right.” He shifted in his wooden chair.

  “What I’m really interested in is the lives of the Dawnspire citizens.” Again, not true. What I was interested in was myself, and getting bigger, stronger, and more fearsome. When I met Luke again I had the chance to be something more than just his … sidekick.

  Fuck. Maybe he could be my sidekick in this world. Maybe this was the life I was meant to live. But I had to grow considerably in a short time for that to be true.

  If I was going to leave my best friend in the dust when we finally met again.

  “The Collective are hated by all — that’s no secret, not even to the members themselves,” I continued. “What we want is to change the world for the better. That’s what Titania wants. That’s what the spectre means.” I was bullshitting my pants off, but as the words flowed from me I wondered if, in a way, that was true. If I had for some reason been chosen by gods to make a difference, they would have made sure that I was going to use that power to complete their goals. My goal, right now, was to destroy the Collective.

  I had his attention, though. And he looked slightly less tense. “What can I do for you?” he pressed, making it clear that he was still listening, but that he didn’t agree with me outwardly that the Collective were bad. That was probably wise. I wondered if the cult were known for having tested the alliance of the population in the past. I hoped not; it would make my life harder.

  “I noticed your cart and horse,” I said. “Do you safely travel from town to town with produce?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Weekly I go to the eastern villages and trade some of my excess crops for gold or leather from their merchants. Why? It’s perfectly allowed, since I pay my way and fulfill my quotas.”

  “I’m sure it’s allowed, I don’t care about that,” I said, becoming more and more animated by the second now that I was close to my quest goal. “I have a favour to ask you, and I’m happy to sweeten the deal. Do you have room in your cart for more supplies on your next journey? I need you to add another stop — and I need you to keep it a secret from everybody, even your family. Just in case.”

  His brow twitched at this last part, though he had been listening silently until then. “What would happen to me if anyone found out?” he asked.

  “Well, we’ll never know, will we?” I said with a smile. “You will be delivering supplies to people who have been banished from Dawnspire, who would otherwise die without your help.” I hadn’t wanted to tell him the details, but I realised that I probably had to, or he would drag his feet and be too nervous.

  It seemed to work — at this, he perked up a little. “That … really? I never thought i would see the day where somebody within the Collective would dare to disobey it. Especially…” He nodded at Moro, who strolled up to him and sat at his feet, as if expecting pats despite her lack of physical presence.

  “But I see the logic to your explanation,” he finally conceded, and I grinned and leaned back.

  Thank you, Charisma ring.

  “You’ll do it?”

  “Essentially you’re asking me to lay my life on the line for a bunch of people I’ve never met,” he said, and I sat up straight again, concerned that I hadn’t convinced him as well as I thought I had.

  “Is there anything we can do to get you on our side?” Xanthe asked quickly, as if sensing a new quest — and some EXP — coming along.

  “I’m not one hundred percent sure that you aren’t here to test my loyalty,” he admitted. “Why not do something to prove you aren’t a part of the Collective?”

  “Well I didn’t say the heartbeat thing when I said Titania earlier,” I pointed out, but he didn’t smile at that. “OK — what are you thinking?”

  He frowned and rubbed his head. “I’m going to give you a lead. A good one. If you don’t tell the others this information, I’ll know you don’t care about them.”

  “What is it?” I asked. “Is anyone in danger?”

  He swallowed, as if noticing a flaw in his plan. “Not … immediately, and not the people at your rank. Around the market district there have been … whispers. Nothing I have anything to do with.” Pollux raised his hands, palms out.

  “What?” I pressed. I knew people in the Collective. I didn’t particularly want to see any of those people get hurt … I just wanted their stranglehold on the city to dissip
ate. That was my ultimate goal, anyway.

  “The Silver Falchion,” he said finally, and then there was a pause as he waited for my dramatic reaction, which didn’t come. “They are inside the city. They failed at the last Initiation to cause any sort of lasting damage, so rumour has it they’re taking a softer approach. But they are here.”

  “Yeah?” I pressed.

  Xanthe swatted me on the shoulder with the back of her hand and turned to me. “This is huge news to the Father. They aren’t letting people into the city for a reason right now. And the Silver Falchion are the Collective’s biggest enemy, remember?” she hissed.

  “Oh, yeah, right. I know.”

  “Right, so you know that they used to be a mercenary group, but their new leader is an adamant worshipper of the oldest god, who is an enemy of Titania?” she added.

  “Great. So they want…” I trailed off.

  “They want the city,” Pollux said dryly. “I thought this would be something you of all the people in Ilyria would be invested in.”

  “Why?” I asked before I remembered the whole chosen one thing.

  “Since you got your spectre, that means Titania has returned, ready to fight,” Xanthe said, and I felt a little ganged up on to be honest. Just because I hadn’t done eight months of research on this place before moving in and getting myself all chosen.

  “Which means that Maledictus will have chosen its new wielder,” Pollux added with a wide-eyed whisper.

  “OK, what the fuck?” I finally snapped. “You can’t expect me to know all of this shit, I’ve only been living in this world for, like, five days.”

  Xanthe turned to Pollux, who looked confused as anything, and waved her hands as if to diffuse the situation. “He’s speaking in riddles, it’s a side effect of the spectre,” she said, which made no sense but it seemed to satisfy the old man, who simply nodded.

  “The rule is decided by Champion’s win. Of brother and brother; of spectres and skin,” Pollux said, with the tripping cadence of a man reciting something by heart. I was too tired of questioning them both to ask what he meant. “What’s your wolf’s name?”

  “Moro,” I said, and she glanced up at me with bright eyes.

  “Moro and Maledictus,” Pollux said reverently, and wiped his palms firmly on his trousers. “Good luck, son.”

  “OK,” I said.

  “So if we simply don’t tell the Collective that the Silver Falchion have breached the city walls, you will help us?” Xanthe asked. “The thing is, there is a time limit on this. If our people don’t get their food and farming supplies soon, they will probably die.”

  He nodded. “Just one day. Lay low while the Falchion completes their collection of intel tonight. Don’t tell the Collective. If you do tell them, then I helped you so I am immune. If you don’t tell them, they are vulnerable to a later attack. This seems fair to me.”

  I barely had to glance at Xanthe to see what she thought — I knew that my mind was made up. “Sounds like a win-win to me,” I said, and stood up and shook Pollux’s hand. “You are saving the lives of many innocent people,” I told him.

  “They will sing songs about you,” Xanthe added with a wink.

  New Quest!

  Speak No Evil

  Pollux needs to know you are on his side. Simply say nothing about the presence of the Silver Falchion in the city walls and return to him tomorrow.

  Reward: Unknown Item(s)

  50 EXP

  Accept/Deny

  I accepted, knowing this would be the easiest quest I would ever complete in this world. I just had to prove to this guy that I was trustworthy. I had to admit that it was a pretty smart thing for him to want to do. If the Collective were going so far as to test people in the cities for their loyalty, he would surely be banished, or worse. But if we went now to tell the higher-ups that the Falchion were in Dawnspire, there’s no way he could look bad for telling us that.

  We thanked him and made our way back into Dawnspire. Now it was almost fully dark, just lit by the plump circle of the moon overhead. “Now what?” I asked Xanthe.

  “Food,” she said. “Do you have any money?”

  “You want to get to the food hall?” I pointed to our right. “It’s back there.”

  “No,” she said, grabbing me by the elbow and guiding me towards the market district. “I want something stronger than water tonight.”

  I obediently led her to the street I had seen an inn on before. The Rusty Tankard was the first one we came to, and the name made me pause before entering, but Xanthe steamed straight through the doors and inside.

  “It’s been a rough day,” she explained as soon as we were inside and had an ale each. We kept away from the rowdy locals, mostly because as soon as they had seen Moro, they had gone largely quiet. We didn’t want them to think we were here to ruin their fun. As much as I did like the idea of being able to use the rare type of magic that came with having a spectre — and weirdly it was nice to have the company — I didn’t really enjoy the suspicious eyeballing that I got from most of the people in Dawnspire. It was clear that many of the people who lived here felt that the wolf was a signifier of just how far I would be willing to go for the Collective. And the Collective wasn’t popular.

  “The first day in the game is a tough transition,” I said, taking a long chug of my drink. I was long past marvelling at how amazingly realistic everything smelled and tasted, but I still had to be a little amazed at the cool burn as it slid down my throat.

  “It’s not that. Like I said, I spent a lot of time in here before. It’s probably more to do with the fact that I committed my first murder today.” She took her own long drink, didn’t come up for air for several seconds, and then gasped and wiped her mouth. “I needed that.”

  I had no idea what to say, so I just lifted my tankard. “To a whole new world.”

  She raised her tankard, a glint in her eye. “You’re really picking Aladdin to quote right now?”

  I shrugged. “If you have anything better…”

  “No, it’s fine. A whole new world.” She clanked the metal against mine. “A new, fantastic point of view.”

  “Wait, wait, you know two whole lines? That’s pretty lame.” I laughed as she shoved me, and when we finished our drinks I decided to grab us another one each. They were only 3 gold pieces each, and it tasted better the drunker I got. My tolerance was incredibly low for fake alcohol fed through electrical impulses to my brain, and by the time I was done with the second round, I could feel the edges of my vision begin to cloud.

  When I returned to the bar, considering another drink but mostly considering the source of the delicious meaty smell that had been wafting from the kitchen, I did a double take when I saw that the landlady had been replaced by a man. A man I recognised. It was the guy that had spoken to Nick, the traitorous assistant, in the alleyway a few days ago.

  He looked at me brightly when I got his attention, and then his smile slipped slightly from his face as he caught sight of Moro watching us from Xanthe’s side, her amber gaze unmoving. I turned back to him and smiled, and his own smile returned to mirror mine, but it was forced.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Sir,” he replied stiffly, rubbing a dirty rag across a sticky wooden surface. He didn’t ask me what I wanted, so I cleared my throat. The room was not as un-spinny as it normally was … and my throat was dry and hot. “Can I get two portions of whatever that smell is?”

  “Great, it’s game pie,” he said, making some effort not to quite look me in the eye.

  “Awesome,” I said, which raised his eyebrow.

  “And, uh, maybe a water.”

  I jumped a little to find that Xanthe was suddenly standing next to me at the bar. She shot me a slightly amused look after she spoke. “That ale is strong, right?”

  “Strong,” I agreed confidently. She giggled, a noise that seemed alien coming from such a serious person, and thanked the man when two grimy cups of water were shoved her way. I didn�
�t particularly want to put the dirty lukewarm liquid to my lips, but Xanthe drank it without issue, so I had to follow suit.

  When the man turned his back, I quickly ran an inspection on him.

  Varkas Fallbrand

  Level 10 Human

  Innkeeper

  Unfriendly

  Unfriendly? That probably proved that his loyalties lay with the enemies of the Collective. If anyone knew who had recently breached the city walls, it would be this man.

  But I was going to complete my quest, of course, and keep my mouth shut about the Falchion entirely. I nodded to myself at this very brave and serious decision, and then leaned in to whisper the information into Xanthe’s ear.

  She reared back on learning what I had told her — which I instantly mostly forgot — and made her own inspection on the man, and then turned back to me. “He’s the guy that Pollux was talking about?”

  I shook my head. “He’s been in here for a while and actually I heard him warning someone not to make a move against the Collective. I don’t think it’s him that Pollux meant.” I leaned more of my weight on the bar and watched as Varkas got into deep conversation with a couple of younger men at the other end. “That does mean that there are more of the Collective’s enemies inside the walls than perhaps anyone knows, though.”

  Xanthe nodded slightly, setting down her water and surreptitiously watching the barman the same way I was: by pretending to find the things behind the bar very interesting for a moment.

  “It’s difficult, because we don’t want the Falchion to win control of the city,” she said. “They’re far more violent than even the Collective are. But your goal is just to take them down, isn’t it?”

  I forgot to feel uncomfortable talking so openly about this, and I guess so had she. “Yep, just to take them down. But since I’ve been in Dawnspire for a while now, and I’ve spoken to a lot of people, I guess I want to make sure that everything turns out alright for them, you know?”