by Edward Brody
She held small, dirty hands out to me in a cupping motion but didn’t say a word.
“Um, well, hey there little girl…” I groaned, unsure what to say. I didn’t have much experience with kids.
The girl swallowed and held her hands up higher.
“What do you need?” I asked. “Are you trying to get gold or something?”
“Foo!” the girl said.
“Food?” I asked. “You need food?”
The girl nodded and smiled. “Candy! Foo!”
I smiled back. Despite her being covered in dirt, she was still adorable. I turned my head in both directions, not really sure how to address the situation and looking around for any signs of the girl’s parents.
With no one really paying any mind to me or the girl, I reached into my bag and focused on a single gold coin, pulled it out, and held it front of her. “How about a gold coin? That’ll get you some food, right?”
The little girl smiled and started running in place as she held her hands higher.
“So… I’ll give you this if you tell me where the cartographer is.”
“Car-tog-ga-fa—?” the little girl stuttered and bit her bottom lip.
“Cartographer? Map maker? Know anything about that?”
The girl’s eyes tilted down to the ground and then back up to me. She slowly shook her head and her smile melted into a frown as she focused back on the coin I was holding.
I took a deep breath and leaned over, handing her the coin. “Ehh, alright. No worriers. I’m sure I’ll find it. Go get yourself something to eat.”
The girl’s mouth went wide as she held up the gold.
“Get over here, now!” a voice snapped from behind me.
I turned to see a tall lady with hands on her hips walking towards me at a furious pace. Her face was twisted into an angry scowl, and her feet stomped as she approached.
The little girl quickly looked to the lady and then back to me before scurrying off in her direction.
“What are you doing?” the lady asked the child, grabbing her by the arm. “Are you out here begging again? You know, no one is going to give you anything! And how did you get all this grime all over you?”
“I gotsa coin!” the girl proclaimed. “I gotsa coin!”
“Did you now?” the lady asked. She looked down to the coin that the little girl held in her hand and then up to me. The lady was clean, unlike the child she was caring for, but her long, brown hair was quite unkempt and her face was weathered with deep stress lines. “Him?”
The girl nodded.
I cleared my voice and smiled towards the lady. “Sorry ma’am. Can you tell me where to find the cartographer?”
“Hmph!” the lady grunted. “There’s no cartographer ‘round here.”
I pooched my lips. “Are you sure? I was told there’s a cartographer in Highcastle.”
“Not in Outer Highcastle. You’ll have to head to the rich parts if you’re looking for anything like that.” She turned and pointed to the long, straight path that led upward towards the wall.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
The lady snickered and turned, grabbing the hand of the small child. The little girl turned back toward me and smiled thankfully as she was pulled along. I gave her a slight nod and turned towards the Inner Highcastle entrance.
As I continued through Outer Highcastle, it was obvious that the inhabitants there weren’t particularly wealthy. There seemed to be a range of people who were quite poor, of lower status than the people that I had seen in Linden or Thorpes and just as many people who were equal or a little better off based on their slightly upgraded attire.
There were lots of wooden stands dotting the main paths, selling various different foods, from meat kebabs to fresh vegetables, to unusually shaped jelly-like deserts. Everything looked tempting, but I wasn’t particularly hungry and focused on reaching my goal. I figured I would try something on my way back to Edgewood if I had the time.
When I reached the footpath to Inner Highcastle, two guards stood guard at the base, and while they both scanned me with their eyes, they took no action as I stepped past them onto the incline that gradually led upward.
Unlike the steep upward slope that led to the palace in Mist Vale, the path to Inner Highcastle was wide, sloped gradually, and had a fence railing that would prevent anyone from falling off the side. It was much safer than the Vale, but less extravagant looking overall.
At the highest point, I was greeted with a thick, rising wall composed of giant brick slabs, and an additional two guards stood on each side of a large open gate. The men scanned me up and down and shifted in their thick, metal armor, but once again said nothing as I passed through the gate. As far as they were concerned, I was just another traveler.
Smooth, polished stones covered the entire ground of Inner Highcastle, and tall brick buildings rose in every direction. The walls of Inner Highcastle seemed to form a perfect circle, and all the buildings inside were laid out in a circular pattern to match.
Most of the people in Inner Highcastle were dressed in finer linens than their Outer Highcastle counterparts, and there was a pleasant, more sophisticated vibe all around. Every corner was meticulously clean, and strategically placed planters filled with colorful flowers were sprinkled in every direction.
Not having any idea of where to go, I walked between a few buildings on my right, sucking in the fresh floral scent that was in the air. I saw shops with signs indicating that they sold armor, weapons, magic items, and the streets seemed to stretch on forever. I imagined it would take me hours to explore the entire city.
I eventually reached a wide clearing which seemed to be the center of city. A large statue of a man dressed in the kind of armor that Highcastle soldiers wore stood in the middle, sword raised in one hand, and fountains of water sprayed up in a circle around it.
Surrounding the fountain were stalls where people were buying and selling wares. It was much like the market I had seen in Outer Highcastle, but the market stalls were sturdier, cleaner, and the goods that were laid out on display looked of notably higher quality.
To the right of the market and at the edge of the clearing was a raised platform where a man with a grey beard and shiny bald head stood with his arms held out to his sides. He wore a loose, maroon colored robe and bellowed loudly over the twenty or thirty people who stood below him.
“We must stand together now that Reborns have arrived!” he yelled loudly. “We do not understand the effect they will have on the world, but the dragons will breathe fire once again! The prophecies are unraveling as we speak!”
His words made me tense up a little bit. I hadn’t really thought about how NPCs around the world would react as Reborns became general knowledge. It had been a pretty big deal each time I had made my own personal reveal. Whatever the case, the man seemed to be in the know and was going out of his way to inform people.
“The Reborns have arrived!” he yelled again.
There were mixed reactions from the onlookers. Some slouched their shoulders and looked visibly afraid, and some snickered and shook their heads. Most people who weren’t gathered directly in front of the man simply walked past him paying no attention.
“The old man is fear mongering!” a man shouted, interrupting the speaker. “Day after day, just fear mongering!”
The old man quieted and lowered his arms.
“Where’s the dragon’s fire?” the man in the crowd questioned. “They’ve been flying around here more lately, but they’re not causing us any problems. It’s all bullshit!”
The people around him started mumbling.
The old man glued his eyes to the doubter and sternly said, “You shall see.” He raised his arms back out to his side and started bellowing again. “The Reborns have arrived! The Reborns have arrived! They can die and return again and again!”
The speaker continued yelling about Reborns, and the man in the crowd just rolled his eyes.
I decided to ignore the si
tuation. I blended in with the crowd well enough that I figured no one would be able to tell I was a Reborn, and I wasn’t prepared to see what would happen if anyone found out, especially with kroka in my bag.
I felt a strange sensation, almost like a light breeze, graze across my back, and I turned my head swiftly to see an odd character scurrying past me. The person was wearing a long shroud that was pulled over their head and covered their entire frame, much like the shrouds that people in the shady town of Knuckle Bay gravitated to. He definitely looked somewhat out of place in Inner Highcastle, but I didn’t put much thought into it. There were plenty of people walking around in robes who simply hadn’t pulled their hood over their head, so perhaps it wasn’t so strange.
One such man, dressed in a long white robe with a green belt cinched at the waist, was slowly strolling past when I cleared my throat and held my hand out in front of him.
“Excuse me,” I said.
The man paused and looked down at my hands with squinting eyes. “Yes?”
“Sorry, but can you tell me where the cartographer is?”
The man snickered, as if being questioned was a complete waste of his time. He took a deep breath and pointed to the other side of the fountain. “Head that way. You’ll find the cartographer east of the Mage’s Hall. His shop is across from The Arena.”
“The Arena?” I raised an eyebrow. I hadn’t heard about any sort of arena before.
The man’s eyes darkened. “Yes… The Arena.”
I cleared my voice. “Uh… Yeah. Thanks.” I was hoping that he’d volunteer more information, but he obviously wasn’t interested in talking.
The man continued on his way, and I quickly scuttled past the fountain and through the busy market. I paced quickly down the indicated path which had little distinguishing it from the others I had already traversed—just more tall, beautiful buildings with well-kept flowers lining them at the base on both sides.
The corridor eventually opened up to another area, and to the right was a long path that led to a tall, spherical building. A large sign with the word “Mage’s Hall” carved on the front was posted outside, giving away its purpose. A little further back and west of the Mage’s Hall was a massive stone castle with a large flag jutting out of the top—the king’s home, I imagined.
Much closer and further to left was another tall building, and it didn’t need a sign for me to know that it was the arena. It was wide, circular and built of solid, grey stone. A wide entrance without a door stood at its mouth, and hanging overhead was a stone sign with two crossed swords etched onto it.
A gladiator arena? I wondered.
I started towards the arena, but before I had taken three steps, I noticed a typical Inner Highcastle building out of the corner of my eye, with the sign of a compass hanging off its side, just opposite where I was heading. I quickly shifted directions and hurried towards the building, certain that it was the cartographer’s shop.
As soon as I arrived, I pushed open the wooden door.
A man inside the building was leaning over a large desk with some sort of round lens notched in the crevice of his eye socket and holding a magnifying glass in front of the lens as well. As soon as he heard the door swing open, he jolted up from his position and banged his knee on the underside of his desk. The lens that was notched in his eye popped out, and he tumbled backwards in his chair, landing with a loud thwack.
“Ahhhh!” the man groaned, and started to pick himself off the ground. He had on a pair of brown cotton pains and a white, long-sleeved shirt with slight ruffling down the center. He had a head of oil-slicked brown hair that was thinning at the top, a thick mustache, and slight stubble covering the entire lower half of his face.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“What are you doing, rushing in here so violently!?” He pushed himself up on one knee and grabbed his shoulder. “You scared the living daylights out of me.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“You didn’t mean to!” he snapped. “I figured you were a thief here to kill me, swinging the door open like that.”
“I was just anxious to get inside. Took me a while to find your place.”
The man got back to his feet and lifted his chair off the ground. “This isn’t a busy shop, so keep that in mind next time you come around. Open the door like a normal person!”
I sighed. “Okay, okay. Sorry again.”
The man sat back down in front of his desk and straightened a large map that was stretched across it. He lifted the eye lens and the magnifying glass close to this face to check if they were okay, sat them back down, and then looked up to me. “Okay, so what can I do for you?”
“I umm…” I started to speak, but momentarily got distracted by the extravagance of his shop. On the far wall behind him was a large ship’s steer and several model ships resting on shelves at either side. On the left wall were shelves of books and scrolls, and on the right wall was a collage of various maps pinned across it.
“Yeah?” the man encouraged.
I refocused my attention. “I have a treasure map. I was hoping you could help me with a location.”
“Oh,” the man cooed. “A treasure map?” His eyebrows raised, and he suddenly seemed very interested. “I always love a good treasure hunt. Hand it over to me, and we’ll have a look.”
I nodded, fetched the map out of my bag, and unfolded it as I handed it to him.
The man shook the map in his hands once and spread it across his desk. He squinted one of his eyes, notched the lens between its crevice, and held the magnifying glass over it. He darted his head in all directions as he inspected each corner of the map. “Yes… Yes…”
“You know where it is?” I asked.
“Just a moment,” the man said as he continued inspecting the document.
I sighed and turned my head, noticing a wooden counter nearby that had compasses and other strange devices resting on top.
“Alright!” the man piped up. He popped the lens out of his eye socket and stood up, lifting the map up with him. “Come over here.”
I followed the man across the room as he walked in front of the collage of maps on the wall, pushing away some of the looser hanging maps to reveal a large one with a sizeable sea, several forests, mountains, and some sort of barren, desolate area.
“Right here,” he said, pointing to an area of the map nestled between a grassland and mountainous area. “This is Highcastle, where we are now.”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. My eyes scanned the entirety of the map. It was the first time I had an overhead look at where I was, and despite how big of a city Highcastle seemed, it looked like a small speck with the amount of area that was surrounding it.
His finger trailed down the map, and then he suddenly paused and turned to me. “Oh, I almost forgot to collect payment. That’ll be 100 gold for deciphering your map.”
“100 gold?” I asked. “That’s quite a lot just for a couple minutes of work.”
“A couple minutes on a treasure map,” the man stressed. “You’ll likely find many multiples of what I’m asking if you recover the treasure. Surely it’s worth it to you.”
“Many multiples?” I asked. “Are you sure?”
The man shrugged. “No, of course not. You could have a dud.” He cleared his voice and rubbed his hand on his thigh. “But… Surely you’ll find something… probably… maybe. If 100 gold is too expensive for you, then…” He leaned away from the wall and held the treasure map back out to me.
“No, here,” I said with a wave of my hand. I pulled 100 gold out of my bag and handed it to him.
The man smiled, shoved the money in his bag, and went back to the map on the wall. “Alright, so Highcastle is here, and you’ll need to travel here.” He slid his finger down the map until he found an area with several mountains arranged in a circle. “Nestle Rock.” He held the treasure map up beside it and compared them. “Yep, this is definitely where it is.”
<
br /> I looked at the map on the wall and then to the treasure map. “They don’t look the same. The water on this treasure map is—“
“It’s a small pond—too small to show up on a large map like this. But I’ve been there a few times. I’m certain this is where it is, and it’ll make more sense when you’re up close and personal.”
“Okay, so how do I get there?” I asked.
“Have you ever been to Addenfall?” the man asked.
I smiled. “Indeed, I have.”
The man pointed towards a large forest on the map and slid his finger slowly left. “You’ll need to travel west of Addenfall to reach Nestle Rock. You’ll likely run into monsters—harpies even, if I recall correctly—so I wouldn’t recommend going alone.” The man waltzed back over to his desk and pulled a pencil from a small bag on his belt. He scribbled at the bottom of the map, and quickly held the map up to me. “Just use your compass to reach these coordinates, and then match things up with the landscape when you’re there to find the exact location.”
“I don’t have a compass,” I said.
“Oh. So, then you use a location spell?”
“No location spell. I guess I should probably—“
“How do you travel long distances then?” the man interrupted, tilting his head back in confusion.
“I’ve done everything by eye so far I guess.”
“So far?” the man questioned, his face twisted in confusion.
I cleared my throat, realizing I needed to speak the language of NPCs. “I haven’t really been too far from here other than when I went to Gramora with—“
“Gramora?!” the man interrupted. He waved his hand and started walking over to the counter where he had compasses and other devices sitting. “There’s no need for you to lie to make yourself look brave. You can’t be much higher than level 10. I can’t imagine how you’d survive in Gramora, much less make it back here without a compass.” The man snorted as if he had just heard a bad joke then lifted a small, circular compass from his counter. “Anyway, this basic compass is just 100 gold.”
