by Aleron Kong
The other Badges could all be useful, but the two that were truly tempting were the ones that increased movement speed and increased earned experience. Trainer I cost too much though. He decided to increase his movement speed. Richter focused on Movement Speed I.
Several options appeared: forest and underground. Once again, it seemed that he could only choose from terrains his war party had been exposed to. The grasslands of Yves were not an option, for instance. Richter purchased the first forest upgrade and then purchased the next. Now sixty war points poorer; he only had nine points left. The next level of the forest upgrade cost sixty points, so he decided to save the rest. Richter was more than happy with his group now being able to move 20% faster through the forest.
After seeing how useful the war points could be, he resolved to earn more ASAP. The best way to do that was to kill as many dangerous creatures as he could. Richter recalled his guilt over killing the saber bear but quickly shut it out of his mind. He needed to get stronger, and he needed to make his lands safe. Everything else was secondary.
He wanted to test the new upgrades out now, but they wouldn’t go into effect until he had reformed his war party. That was something he couldn’t do until tomorrow. Richter looked over and saw that most of the skeletons had been reassembled. It was time to plan for the night. He sent a mental call to Futen. The remnant floated over.
“Yes, my lord?”
“Go tell the cooks that tonight is a special occasion. The tables should be brought up and arranged in front of the Quickening. There will be a wonderful surprise. I want every man, woman, and child here until it happens. Tonight we will laugh, sing, eat and rejoice.”
“It shall be as you command, my lord,” Futen said as he floated away. Richter looked around. Despite the possible tragedy that could have occurred with the ghost attack, everything had worked out. He had no illusions as to why it had worked out; they had been lucky to have a master of Life magic present at the time of the attack. Still, a win was a win. Everything looked like it was well in hand. Terrod had been the only one to be injured, and even those were minor and easily healed. Sumiko was already blessing the bones, and it looked like she was more than half done. Sion was collecting ‘something’ from the ashen remains of each of the ghosts, and Beyan was putting the armor on the knight, badly. Richter chuckled slightly.
“Beyan, stop. I didn’t mean for you to try to put the armor on right now. How is Krom supposed to fix the armor if you put it on the knight?” The gnome looked at Richter sheepishly. The Death mage had managed to affix a piece of the greaves to the knight’s arm. Richter waved him over. After seeing Beyan’s excitement over claiming the decaemur knight, he’d had a thought, “With you grinding to improve your Death magic, will you really have time to do the alchemy quest? Even if you win, are you still prepared to do what is required to run the Cauldron?”
Beyan took a deep breath and sighed, “I have thought of that, Lord Richter. I agree that I cannot devote myself to both.”
“So does that mean you are withdrawing from the quest?” Richter asked.
An evil smirk worked its way onto the gnome’s face, “I thought that maybe I would let Tabia keep working and announce my withdrawal right before the deadline. After all, she is there almost constantly. I even saw her wife yell at her for being gone too much. It would be a shame to ruin that.”
Richter laughed, “That’s kinda fucked up man, but also kinda funny. Your quest is your quest, I suppose, and I won’t interfere. BUT! It may take years to level your Death magic to journeyman level. I need your Alchemy skill now. More specifically, I need you to be a Professed Alchemist now. Once you are, I don’t care if you spend Talent points in Alchemy or hoard them until you become a Professed Mage, but I don’t want you to waste levels of potential points. What this all means is that you will work in the Cauldron and you will work under Tabia. I don’t want to hear any bitching and moaning. You can have your fun now, but I need you to do your best to work under her. For the good of the village.”
Beyan looked like he was going to argue, but Richter went further to say, “I could also always tell Tabia that you don’t plan on competing. Or better yet, I could tell her wife, Mimi, that you are planning to toy with her. How’s your eye feel?”
The gnome blanched and winced involuntarily. Beyan took a deep breath and let out a long-suffering sigh, “As you say, my lord. I will work under her direction.”
“Great,” Richter said with a smile. “Does that mean you’re ready to go for your trial?”
Beyan thought about it and said, “I suppose I am. Right after-”
The Death mage never finished his statement. A black disc appeared in the meadow to the startled oaths of everyone present. Before anyone could run, a giant black hand reached out and grabbed Beyan. It pulled him back through the disc, and it disappeared.
“What the fuck!” Richter shouted. “Did you see that?”
Sion nodded, “The same thing that happened to you.”
“THAT’S what happened to me?” Richter shouted.
Sion nodded, “Pretty much.”
“And that didn’t worry you assholes? That was a giant fucking hand! Incidentally, I’m pretty sure that hand is attached to a sadistic giant. Soooo, thanks for all the concern guys.”
Sion pfft’d, “You made it back okay. Quit complaining.”
Richter’s nostrils flared. He was about to let loose on the sprite, but his Companion was already walking away. Everyone else wisely avoided eye contact. Richter looked around, incensed, and then shouted into the air, “You can’t just take people like that, Nexus! I need him here. You couldn’t have waited?”
Another black disk appeared. This one was right in front of Richter’s face and was only a foot across. A human-sized black hand shot out. Despite the fact that it was smaller, Richter still felt a thrill of fear, wondering if the otherworldly being was going to punish him for his insolence. The hand stopped just shy of touching him, though, and after a moment’s pause, it turned to show him its backside… then it flipped him off.
The hand disappeared back into the black disc to the sound of mocking laughter, and Richter was left fuming and look into thin air.
CHAPTER 23 -- Day 112 -- Kuborn 2, 15368 EBG
Happily, the decaemur knight remained calm after Beyan was taken to his trial. Richter had stared at it for a moment with a hand on his sword hilt, but it just stood there. Not knowing what else to do, he ordered it to just sit down on the ground. For some reason, it made him feel better to do that. Sumiko called out that she was finished. The mist workers had dug the grave large enough to accommodate all of the remains. Richter helped to lay the skeletons in one by one. The process went quickly with so many mist workers and people available to help. Soon only a patch of bare earth marked the grave and the site of the ghostly battle.
Everyone walked away. Richter even sent Terrod to escort the decaemur knight to the forge. The undead carried its own armor. He told the captain that until Beyan returned, he could use the knight as he saw fit. The mist workers were sent along with Futen with instructions to divide them between helping the cooks set up for the feast and for Roswan to use as he saw fit. Sion had said that he had to get back to the Dragon’s Cauldron and for Richter to meet him when he was done. The chaos seed had thanked the sprite guards who had already gone back to guard the Quickening. After a few minutes, Richter was left alone. He just stood there for a moment, keeping vigil over the new grave. After a few minutes, he realized that the quest icon in the corner of his vision was blinking.
You have completed a Quest: Proper Rest I. The slain people of Jorgen’s village were horribly corrupted by countless years of torture. It twisted them into malevolent spirits. By the strength of your arm, they have been defeated. Through the ministrations of your Life master, they have finally been put to rest. You have fulfilled the optional condition of this quest.
Reward: 10,625 experience (base 17,000).
Optional Reward: A call
for aid.
Richter furrowed his brow. A call for aid? Aid from whom?
No sooner than had the thought crossed his mind, a pale, translucent figure appeared over the graves. His body immediately tensed, and he unsheathed his swords. He couldn’t believe this shit was starting up again! He cast Weak Detect Hostile Intent, hoping it would reveal any other spirits that he couldn’t see yet. Richter had already crossed half the distance to the ghost, running on a new grave, when he stopped. Surprisingly, the ghostly figure wasn’t glowing red. He kept his swords up and at the ready, but took a moment to examine the ghost.
It was Krista. Unlike before however, the girl’s body was whole. She stood upon the graves, both legs intact. She wore her slip, and there was no evidence of the damage the monsters had done. Her face was also peaceful, though touched with sorrow. Her fingers were no longer claws; they were only the small hands of a child. What made him feel better overall though was her color. Gone was the neon green of eldritch magic; instead her clothes and body were the pristine white of fresh snow.
Krista’s spirit stood unmoving and looked at him. She made no move to defend herself from his impending attack. Hoping he wouldn’t regret it, he sheathed both swords. They both stood there silently. After a few moments, Krista started walking forward. When she was within a few feet of him, she stopped and raised one hand. Her fingers moved into an easy roll. It was not a spell form, to Richter, it looked more like the sleight of hand illusionists on Earth would use. Magic or not, she was suddenly holding a white coin.
The dead girl looked at Richter’s hand intently. He raised it, palm out. She placed the ghostly coin in it and let go. When she broke contact, the coin gained substance, real and tangible in his plane. Krista then stared right into his eyes. They made a psychic connection. Richter started to panic, but she did not approach his mental defenses. Instead, she communicated her yearning to cross over to her next destination, but he could also feel her residual anger at the abuse she had endured. Sumiko had said she would make it possible for the spirits to be free from the concerns of this world, but they had decided to stay. It was with a bit of shock that Richter realized that Krista was telling him that she, and the other spirits of the victims, were keeping themselves in limbo to offer their aid. Her message conveyed, Krista took a step back and waved goodbye before disappearing completely. He examined the coin.
You have found: Krista’s Summoning Coin. Durability: 1/1. Item Class: Rare. Weight: 0.0 kg. Traits: This coin is made of Krista’s essence. Using this will allow you to call for her aid one time. This is a one time use item, and it will disappear within one month. This item cannot be damaged by mundane means.
You have been received a Quest: Proper Rest II. The spirits of the sacrificial victims have decided to to put off their well deserved rest to seek revenge against the eldritch magic user who tortured them. You have one month to use her aid, then the spirits will move on. Help them to destroy the creature which tormented them for so long. By accepting Krista’s coin, you have accepted the quest. Reward: Unknown.
Richter put the coin in his bag. He looked around just to be sure no more ghosts were going to pop up, but thankfully everything stayed quiet and copasetic. It was a relief. He’d had enough ghosts for the moment. He turned away from the grave and started walking back towards the Cauldron. Sion had told him to come by before he left.
Richter started jogging. The sun was high overhead, and large fluffy clouds drifted overhead. A barely audible buzz of insects surrounded him, and tufts of grass seed drifted up with each step. The thigh-high lawn made him sneeze. A thought occurred to the master of the mist village that made him stop. He looked critically at the lawn and then extended his hand and summoned four mist workers. The level six workers listened to him and soon they had scythes at the end of the arms and were cutting the grass down to a more manageable level. He made sure to specify that they only cut grass. The last thing he needed was his summoned creatures chopping at the Quickening. Suddenly he’d find himself in a war with the sprites that would probably end with Hisako smacking him in the back of the head and calling him “gyoti.”
Richter watched them work for a few moments and then kept moving. The blades the workers could manifest were relatively dull, but they were still getting the job done. He made a mental note to have Krom forge some scythe blades or maybe even some of the twisted blades so he could try to make an old school rotary mower. A faint smile graced his face as he wondered if the one thing he would be remembered for millennia from now was ‘discovering’ a good way to keep a manicured lawn. Yup, he was a regular Tesla.
Richter crossed the final distance to the Cauldron and walked inside. Tabia was working at one of the stations, monitoring a series of bubbling, glass beakers. The high elf was shaking her head slightly as she stared at the color of a particular liquid. Sion was standing at the central cauldron. Richter watched while the blue liquid in the cauldron rose into the air and filled a set of vials the sprite was holding. Richter cleared his throat, and Sion waved him over.
“Perfect timing. While you were out bringing an army of ghosts back to the village, I was doing something useful,” Richter rolled his eyes, and Sion smirked. “Specifically, I was working on a few potions. This last batch just finished brewing. Admittedly, I have had a few failures over the past few days. At my apprentice alchemy rank, I normally only have a 50% chance of successfully making a solution level potion, but this final attempt came out well. Of course, the fact that being in a Core building makes potions 10% more likely to be successfully prepared didn’t hurt.” Sion beamed with pride, “I am happy to tell you that not only is this a solution, it’s also fortified strength. There may have been many people who thought that you should have made something different with the Magic Core, but they were wrong! The copy ability is amazing. Here are your potions.”
You have received: Mana Potion. Durability 5/5. Potion Level: Solution. Strength: Fortified. Weight: 0.01 kg. Will restore 196 mana points over 17 seconds. x 30
Richter’s eyes widened. One hundred and ninety-six mana? And there were thirty of them? When Sion had initially been talking about potion strength and potion level he had gotten confused again, but seeing the prompt made it easy to remember. Potion level affected the duration of the potion and potion strength determined exactly how powerful the effect was. “Sion, this is awesome!”
The sprite closed his eyes and gave a self-satisfied head nod. “My alchemy skill is not as high as Beyan’s or Tabia’s, but at level thirty-four, I still get a 51% bump to potions I make. At my apprentice rank in alchemy, it is more likely for me to make an enhanced strength potion rather than a fortified strength potion, but” Sion smirked again, “I got lucky. I was able to make three draughts of the initial potion at once and I used the central cauldron to make nine more doses of each.”
“You’re the man!” Richter said, giving his friend a high-five.
Sion took the accolade as his due, “This one really did come out well. It took me more than an hour to make the initial potions, but it paid off.”
“How are we doing for ingredients?” Richter asked.
“With the gathering that I regularly do and with the amazing yield in the herb shed and Isabel’s garden, we are doing okay.”
“You’re great, man!” Richter looked at his friend and came to a decision, “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with this, but I want you to have it.” He reached into his Bag of Holding and pulled out the Bottle of Royal Jelly from the aswani queen. Abbas, the trader, had sold it to him for a whopping two hundred and eighty-two gold. Put another way, the honey colored substance in the jar had cost him more than twenty-eight thousand bucks! Considering the fact that it added +2 to the Strength Characteristic, though, it was worth it. Sion was his best friend and closest ally. If he could increase his Companion’s fighting potential, it was worth any price. That was why he was so surprised when Sion refused the gift.
“You should not give that to me,” Sion said. �
��It would be a waste.”
Richter looked at his friend, confused, “What are you talking about? Is this part of your people’s hippie dippie ‘I don’t need possessions’ bullshit? You’re my best friend. You’re worth it.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Sion said with an edge in his voice.
“Then what do you mean?” Richter asked. His arm was still out, offering the jelly.
Sion looked at him with irritation, “If you must know, it would be a waste because of my size.”
Richter just shook his head slightly and looked at Sion with an irritated expression of his own, “I’m really getting tired of people giving me half-answers. I am NEW here! Just tell me what’s going on, Sion.”
The sprite huffed. He looked over to the side and said through gritted teeth, “I am under four feet tall. That means that technically, I am a ‘small’ creature. My Strength stat is only 70-80% of my baseline Strength characteristic. There are exceptions for certain races, of course, but I would probably only gain one point of Strength if I used that.”
Richter furrowed his brow. He doubled checked his friend’s status page and saw that Sion’s Strength characteristic was eighteen, “Does that mean that your Strength would be twenty-two or twenty-three if your size was normal?” Sion looked at him sharply, “Errrr, I mean, my size?”
Sion looked away again, “No,” he said sullenly. “My Strength is mostly from my armor. Characteristics added by items and armor are not affected by the size modifier. They are added directly to my stats.”
“Well that’s not so bad then,” Richter said with false cheer.
