“You seemed pretty capable during that dunge—” I began, but then Gratia interrupted me.
“Ya like art? How about sculptures?”
“Only if they are of dwarven warriors fighting dragons,” the man said with a wink.
“Yes! I’m in the process of opening a gallery. Just looking for a spot with my assistant.” Gratia nodded over to Allurie, and the elf girl giggled a bit.
“I know of the perfect place. It is on the south side of this quarter actually. Next to a baker, who is the talk of the town right now, and a jeweler that is known for his pewter pieces.”
“I haven’t been to that area yet,” Gratia scratched her chin thoughtfully.
“I will take you there today, if you wish?” the half-orc asked.
“Yes!” The dwarf woman turned to me. “Leo, you’ve found a good one. I like this guy.”
“He was the one that stole all of my money earlier,” I said with a sigh.
“I have already told them the story, dearest Leo. Just like you, they found it completely hilarious.” Cornalic laughed, and my three friends joined in. Even Artus’ wife did from her spot in the kitchen.
“Wait. I didn’t think it was very—”
“Leo has the best sense of humor!” Gratia said as she smacked me on the back. “Did he tell you about the time he fought all those gnolbolds while naked? I thought him crazy, but he was just doing it as a joke.”
“It wasn’t really a joke. I was—”
“That sounds like something Leo would do. Tell me more about my dear friend! Stories of his grand adventures warm my heart.”
“No, we don’t need to talk about—” I began, but then Urllia interrupted me from the kitchen.
“Breakfast is ready! Come get plates and eat!”
My friends all stood from their chairs with Cornalic, and they moved to the kitchen area. Urllia scooped them up some eggs, set bacon on their plates, and then loaded each one with potatoes.
“Are you going to eat my dearest friend?” Cornalic asked from his spot at the end of the line.
“I ate a bit ago,” I said, but then I realized that they would think me strange for talking about the breakfast I had with my mother. She had experienced a dramatic shift, and we had spent the entire time talking about my first championship bout. She still forgot a few things, but it was the best conversation we’d had in almost nine years.
And I had Zarra and her game to thank. My father’s first session was today, and Zarra had asked me to attend, but I wanted to get the first artifact in my possession, and I set up a breakfast with him tomorrow.
“That is strange; I thought you were in your room all morning?” Cornalic said with twinkling yellow eyes.
“Leo goes home when he sleeps,” Allurie said matter of factly as she sat down with her food. Artus’ wife didn’t really seem to like the elf girl cooking, but she was more than happy to let Allurie clean up after meals.
“Goes home?” Cornalic asked me with a raised half-orc eyebrow.
“Allurie, did you call me yesterday?” I asked the pretty silver-haired elf woman.
“Call you?” she asked with confusion painted on her face.
“Yeah. Yell my name or something? I thought I heard you yesterday.”
“Yes! Cornalic came by to ask if you were here, so I knocked on your door and you didn’t answer. The door was locked so I asked if you were there. Then I figured that you had gone home.”
“Hmmm.” I thought about the voice I had heard yesterday when I ate breakfast with Zarra.
“Dearest friend Leo, what are your plans for the day? Mirea, Wicum, and Bylem are meeting for lunch, and they have asked for both of us to join them.”
“I need to try and meet with Baron Yinnia,” I said, and then I realized that I probably shouldn’t be talking about my plans with the half-orc.
“Ahh yes. You are attempting to trade with him?”
“Yeah.”
“For what item did you say you were looking for?”
“I didn’t actually say what item I was looking for,” I looked at the man, and shook my head. “Cornalic, why are you here?”
“To give you your gold, of course! I also wanted to spend some time with you. Do you know where the baron’s mansion is?”
“It’s on the hill. I know what the backside looks like. I was going to walk around in that area.”
“Then what?”
“Knock on the door and see if he’d receive me.”
“Then what?”
“Ask him if he would be interested in seeing the staff or the crown, then ask if he’d trade me an item in his collection. If he agrees, then I would tell him what I wanted.”
“And that would be?” he wiggled his eyebrows as he asked.
“None of your business, Cornalic. Listen, I appreciate you bringing my gold, and I’ll try to meet you all for lunch, but I’ve got to get this trade done first. Then I have to do a bunch of other work, so I might not make it there.” I opened the chest as I spoke, and saw nine bags of coins stacked inside.
“They are thinking of trying the route with the undead serpent tonight. Would you be interested in going?”
“I don’t think so. It depends on what Baron Yinnia says.”
“What if he says no?” Cornalic asked.
“Then I’ll have to figure out something else.”
My friends were watching the exchange with opened eyes, and I realized I was rather short with the half-orc. They had no idea what I’d put up with to work with him, but the guy had brought me my fair share of the gold, and he had given me the staff.
“I’m sorry, Cornalic. There is a possibility that I won’t be going on any more explorations in Arnicoal.”
“Ahh. I see, honestly, you really don’t need them,” Cornalic said as he smiled at me.
“Huh?”
“Mirea is decent, but not of your caliber. Bylem is also good, but he doesn’t have a lot of abilities. Wicum will be a problem someday. He’s got an ego that is beyond his ability.”
“Aren’t they your friends?” I asked.
“We’ve gone on other explorations before. They are good folk, but they aren’t the best in the city. They could get there in a few years if you continue to work with them.”
“Why is that?” I put a few gold coins from one of my pouches into my pocket, grabbed the money I owed Artus for lunch, and then closed the chest.
“Leo, you are so ignorant of your capabilities. The ladies must love it.”
“Oh, we do!” Allurie giggled.
“I’m confident of my fighting abilities.” I thought about putting the chest in my small room, but the half-orc was still talking to me, and I didn’t want him to know where I was stashing my money. The man may have told me that he was never going to steal from me again, and he may have given me a staff worth a small kingdom in gold, but I still didn’t trust him.
“My dear friend, you are obviously skilled, but perhaps you might not quite understand your…” the man paused for a moment as he considered his next word. “Rarity? Perhaps that is a good description.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are plenty of healers out there, and some protectors, but you kept our party going through some rather surprising events, with only a single enchantment of each type. Your melee prowess was also very good. Then you also were able to identify our items almost instantly.”
“Leo is wonderful, isn’t he?” Allurie smiled at me and fluttered her eyelids.
“Yes indeed, Allurie!” The green-skinned man laughed and then turned back to me. “Our friends are sitting in the tavern at the moment, counting their gold and hoping that I’ll bring you to lunch so that they can get more. They know a good thing when they have found it.”
“And you are telling me all this because… You’re my friend?” I smirked at the man and shook my head.
“Yes! Your best friend. Leo, can I be honest with you?” The man’s eyebrows formed a U shape over his yellow eyes, and
he put his large hand on my shoulder. “I feel as if we are kindred spirits that have found each other through chance, fortune, or just the Shadow and Light having their way with the powers on Ohlavar. We may have led different lives up until this point, and I may not understand all of your strange ways, but I’ll tell you one thing for sure: I never want to leave your side.”
“That is the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” Allurie sighed and clasped her hands up to her chest as if she was hugging an invisible stuffed animal. “Oh Leo, I’m so glad you found a man to love.”
“I’m not in love with Cornalic,” I said to Allurie, and then I turned to the half-orc, “what do you mean by strange?”
“Shhh, let’s not talk about that now. Let’s talk about how we get you this item you want from this Baron Yinni.”
“You are going to help me? I somehow don’t believe it.”
“Yes, dearest Leo. I shall help you with whatever you want. Be it adventuring in the deepest and darkest of dungeons, fighting the oldest of dragons, or conquering the largest of countries in Ohlavar. I want to be the poop to your dung beetle, the foam to your beer, the parade to your homecoming, the squire to your knight, your—”
“I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned cheese yet,” I interrupted him.
“I love cheese. Will there be some at the wedding? Can I be the maid of honor?” Allurie asked.
“No. We aren’t getting married.”
“Don’t even get me started on cheese, dear Allurie, or we might be here all day,” the half-orc said.
“Listen, Cornalic,” I said as I removed the man’s hand from my shoulder. “I can appreciate the offer, and I feel grateful for your gift of the staff, but I still don’t trust you. Sorry man. I’ll try to be there for lunch, but there is a chance we might not ever adventure together again. I’ve got an important quest I am on, and I don’t have a lot of time for side exploration.”
“Awww,” Allurie and the man both sighed in unison.
“Well, I did make a valiant attempt.”
Artus’ wife gave Cornalic a plate full of food, and the half-orc moved to sit next to me. I got up as soon as he stood though, and I handed Artus the gold coins I owed him.
“I’m going to go see if I can get an appointment with this baron,” I told everyone.
My chest was still on the table, and I realized that I was about to leave with Cornalic still in Artus’ home. Part of me guessed that the man would just steal it, another part of me thought he might hurt my other friends to get it, but then I realized that he’d given me the staff, which was probably worth way more than my share of the money. This guy definitely wanted to befriend me. I didn’t quite understand his motivation, but he did seem sincere with his offer.
Or at least, he’d seemed as sincere as he had the other times he had conned me.
I grabbed the chest from the table, and then walked into my small room. It fit under my bed, and I grabbed my backpack from the floor. I’d wrapped the staff up in some cloth to conceal it from the citizens of Arnicoal, and carefully exited my room so that it didn’t smash into anything. I didn’t want to accidentally trigger one of the abilities, not have the required Shadow attribute, and then die a horrible death.
“So, tell me all about Leo’s naked adventures,” Cornalic said as I stepped back into the main room.
“Oh. This is one to pass down to your grandkids. First, let me begin by telling you about all these bastard gnolbolds that got the jump on me,” Gratia began to gesture with her fork as she spoke.
“I’ll talk to you all later,” I said with a wave. My friends all smiled at me, wished me well, and then returned to speaking about the dungeon, and how I had lost my clothes. I just shook my head, and walked down the stairs to the front door of Artus’ home.
Then I was out on the streets of Arnicoal.
It was a little before mid-morning, and the traffic was a bit lighter than I would have thought, but there were still plenty of citizens walking on the streets. A few of the men greeted me with a tip of their hat, and a small group of elven women giggled at me as they walked past, but most of the citizens paid me, and the wrapped staff I held in my hand, no mind.
I walked a few streets over from Artus’ place and reached one of the major avenues. This street ran north to south, and I was able to look up into the cliffs where Baron Yinnia’s mansion sat. I didn’t know exactly how to get there, but I could see a cut in the cliffs that I guessed was the road, and I estimated about where it fell into the lower parts of the city.
New Quest: Meet with Baron Yinnia
“Hey, looks like I’m on the right path,” I said to myself, and then I began my walk toward the far north side of the city.
The stroll ended up taking me about two hours, but it was a very enjoyable experience. I could have spent weeks people watching in Arnicoal, and I wondered if players would just take that up as a pastime instead of actually questing. I could definitely see it happening, and the idea led my mind to wonder about all the other occupations that players could involve themselves in during their Ohlavar Quest sessions.
There was a gate up ahead of me on the street. The doors were tall, some twenty feet, and they were crafted out of a metal bent and painted white to look like bird wings. The gates were only opened a few feet wide, and a small group of citizens were lined up to enter.
“Do they let anyone in?” I asked a bearded man that I moved to stand behind in the line. He wore a green Robin Hood style hat, and carried a few large backpacks along with a wide bodied guitar strapped to his back.
“If you’ve got business with one of the nobles they will.” His voice was surprisingly pleasant, and I guessed that the man was a professional musician.
“Ahh good. I do.”
“Hmm,” the man nodded and then turned back to face the gates. I thought about asking him about his profession, figuring it would prompt a deep and interesting conversation about the NPC, but the body language of the man made me think that he wasn’t really interested in talking to me anymore. It was another cool detail that Zarra’s game had added. The body language of the NPCs was just as real as anything I would see in real life.
The line moved forward slowly, but the old man finally made it to the guards, and I leaned forward a bit to listen to the conversation.
“Name?” the guard commanded as he held his pencil to a piece of parchment secured to a thin wood plank with a clothespin.
“Waii Lerom,” the old man responded.
“Profession?”
“Bard.”
“Purpose of visit?”
“I am playing for Duke Talleywand.”
“When will you be leaving?”
“Much later tonight, perhaps in the morning. The Duke’s party might be going all night.”
“Alright. Enter,” the guard said as he stepped to the side.
The old man stepped through the gate, and the guard gestured for me to move the few paces toward him.
“Name?” he asked as he looked down to my sword belt.
“Leo Lennox.”
“Profession?”
“Adventurer and item finder.”
“Ahhh.” He glanced up at the head of the cloth wrapped staff, and then he tilted his head some to look at my backpack.
“I’m guessing that you are trying to sell something.”
“Hopefully. I’m visiting Baron Yinnia,” I confirmed.
“Do you have a letter?” he asked with a frown.
“No, I don’t.”
“Sorry, I can’t let you in.” The guard looked at my staff again.
“Why not?” I asked. There were two other guards at the gate, but one of them was on the other side talking to citizens walking in my direction, and the third was off to the side talking to a female elf.
“Need a letter.” He shrugged.
“He’s looking for magical items. I have two really nice ones that he’ll want.”
“These rich folk send representatives to the guild h
alls to buy them, sorry.”
“Yeah. I don’t want to wait that long, or talk to a lackey,” I grunted a bit and let my hand rest on the pommel of my broadsword. I had wanted to save the use of its charm ability for the baron, or one of his servants, but I wasn’t going to be able to if I never made it there in the first place.
Once every thirty-six hours, a user can either reset their mana fatigue, or charm a person of equal or lower Charisma attribute. Was what the ability on my sword had said, but I’d never used it before, and I didn’t know if this guard had a charisma of 13 or lower. I guessed that is was lower, since the man was guarding an inner gate of a city.
“Listen, friend. Can’t you make this exception for me? Baron Yinnia really wants to see what I’ve got.” I thought about charming the man with the sword, and I felt the handle where I gripped grow warmer. The sensation was sudden, and even though I didn’t see my UI flash, the guard’s head kind of twisted to the side like a confused puppy.
“You know. You seem like a really great guy, Leo Lennox,” the guard said as he looked down at his parchment. “I think it will be just fine if you go through. Don’t cause any trouble, okay?”
“No sir, I won’t.” I smiled at the man.
“And don’t forget to say hi when you leave. I’d like to know how your day went.” The guard returned my smile and gestured for me to walk past him.
“You got it,” I said as I squeezed through the gate.
The road past the checkpoint climbed at a bit of a steeper angle than the earlier part of the street, and I saw the bard about sixty feet ahead of me. I didn’t know exactly how long the charm effect would last on the guard, so I decided that I needed to hustle my way up the street.
It only took me a handful of seconds to walk past the older man, and then another two minutes to ascend the first hill on the street. There was a wide switchback on the cobblestone road, and I paused for a few moments to look down at Arincoal. The city spread out before me like a painting, and my heart surged with pleasure. I could see why Artus loved this place, and I loved it too. The best part was that Arnicoal was not really even a major city in Ohlavar, and Artus had explained that it was actually a bit of a waypoint between the more populated continents of Iria, Rinniji, and Quator.
Lion's Quest: Dual Wield: A LitRPG Saga Page 29
