Clarice’s forehead wrinkled in confusion as she stared at Eliza, her no-nonsense gaze making her feel uncomfortable. “I don’t recall scheduling a delivery,” she said bluntly.
“I-I might have gotten the location wrong,” Eliza stuttered, her gaze dropping to the ground under the older woman’s scrutiny.
“It didn’t seem right turning her away at the gate after she traveled such a long way and I thought I’d check with you,” Brian amended hastily. “Besides you mentioned that a few animals had taken sick…”
Clarice grunted. “You look pretty young to be an alchemist,” she said, inspecting Eliza suspiciously.
“I-I’m just an apprentice,” Eliza murmured.
“Perfect,” Clarice said sourly, glancing pointedly at Brian. “Who’s your master?”
“Alma,” Eliza offered quickly. “She is pretty well known in Falcon’s Hook…”
“Hmm, I’m familiar with her work. In that case, you might not be entirely useless,” the older woman grunted. “Well, when life gives you lemons… Maybe we can take advantage of your unexpected visit,” the woman said, her gaze more thoughtful now as she gazed at Eliza.
“Coming from Clarice, that’s glowing praise,” Brian said with a laugh.
This earned him the penetrating attention of the gruff woman, her eyes flicking back to the sentry. “Hmph, you better get back to your post before someone notices that you’re missing. I can take it from here.”
Brian nodded curtly and handed the crate of potions back to Eliza. His hand brushed hers once again during the exchange, and their eyes met. “You should be in good hands,” he said with a smile. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Eliza.”
“Y-you too,” Eliza murmured, but Brian had already turned and started back to the gate. She couldn’t help but watch him leave – for some reason feeling a little sad to see him go.
“Well, don’t just stand there gawking, girl,” Clarice said, snapping Eliza back to herself. “Set down your crate on that post there and I can show you the flock.”
“Okay,” Eliza said, following the older woman’s instructions. She felt strangely out of her element here – suddenly missing the quiet of Alma’s cottage and the nearby forest. It was just beginning to sink in that she was a long way from home, amid a bunch of strangers. Oh, and she was also lying about why she was there.
She couldn’t decide at that moment who she hated more, the Hippie or Lord Baen.
Clarice was oblivious to Eliza’s inner turmoil, leading her into the pen and closing the gate behind them. The pair approached the flock of sheep milling about the enclosure. The animals seem to perk up slightly when they caught sight of Eliza and several trotted up to her, rubbing their heads against her thighs and stomach in a way that reminded her of Fluffy.
Maybe sheep just love me? she wondered. Worst superpower ever…
“Brian mentioned that some of the sheep were sick,” Eliza ventured tentatively, looking at the animals beside her. They certainly didn’t seem ill.”
Clarice sighed. “That boy doesn’t know the first thing about animals or medicine. It’s all that James can do to keep him on the wall where he belongs. What he should have said was that we’ve been battling some infections. Here let me show you.”
The older woman stooped and gently tugged at a sheep’s leg. The animal reluctantly raised its hoof and Clarice parted the thick fur on its belly with her fingers. Eliza had to crouch to see clearly, but she could make out scratches along the animal’s stomach, red skin radiating out from the injuries and indicating that the wounds were infected. Her brow furrowed in confusion as Clarice showed her that the scratches riddled the length of the sheep’s stomach.
“I see the infection,” Eliza murmured. “Is this the same on every sheep?” she asked, tracing one of the wounds with a gentle finger.
“Pretty much,” Clarice answered bluntly. “But feel free to look for yourself.”
Eliza spent some time inspecting the animals around her. Nearly every sheep in the enclosure had the same sorts of scratches along their stomach – although not all of the wounds looked infected. In some cases, the injuries were clearly fresh, the scratches not yet having scabbed over and dots of blood staining their wool.
“Do you have any idea how this happened?” Eliza asked, some of her hesitation falling away as she considered the animals.
Clarice face pinched, and she looked to the side for a brief moment. “That’s not clear. The shepherds keep an eye on their flock when we take them outside the compound to graze, but it’s impossible to watch every animal all of the time. Maybe they found some stickers in the hills or something,” she added with a shrug.
Eliza cocked her head to the side as she listened to Clarice’s explanation. She had just trudged through the hills to make it to the farm. The underbrush was pretty sparse, and she had only witnessed tall grasses dotting the hills. Maybe a single sheep could have wandered into some strange bushes or something, but dozens? Despite Clarice’s explanation, Eliza had also noticed quite a few shepherds in the hills. It seemed unlikely that a whole flock could have been injured without anyone noticing.
This is really weird, she thought, her fingers tracing another batch of scratches along a sheep’s stomach. What was even more strange was that the bushy wool should have offered some protection from normal plant life.
Acting on instinct, Eliza used her Inspection skill on the sheep in front of her. Several portions of its wool were suddenly illuminated in blue, tracing matted lines in the hair that Eliza hadn’t noticed before or had assumed were natural. The bands were evenly spaced… almost like something had been strapped to the animal.
“So, do you think you can help?” Clarice asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“I-I think so,” Eliza replied hesitantly.
Thinking quickly, she realized she needed to buy herself some time to regroup with Lord Baen. Besides, she had no way to retrieve the bell in the tower looming over the town right now (if it was even possible) and she had a few choice words she needed to share with the Hippie for giving her yet another ridiculous task.
“The healing potions I brought might be partly effective,” Eliza began, thinking carefully. “But they might not deal with the infection completely – only close the wounds. I’ll need to speak with Alma about a better solution – maybe some sort of salve. I could return in a couple days maybe?”
As Eliza finished speaking, a prompt appeared in the air before her.
New Quest: Sheepish
The sheep at Tollhouse Farm appear to be suffering from some kind of infection caused by scratches along their stomachs. Putting aside the suspicious nature of this condition, you will need to decide whether to aid the farm. What am I saying, of course, you wool! Sheep are awesome!
Difficulty: D
Success: Return to Tollhouse Farm with a tonic or salve that will fight the infection.
Failure: Ignore this quest?
Reward: You forgot to negotiate for this, yet again.
Eliza reviewed the notice with a single raised eyebrow before swiping away the prompt. The Hippie sure seemed fond of sheep puns lately. Then she turned back to Clarice. “What do you think?” she ventured tentatively.
Clarice grunted in acknowledgment. “That may work. Just let Brian know on the way out that you’ll be heading back in a few days and I’ll alert the other sentries to keep an eye out for you. Can you make your way back to the entrance by yourself?”
“Y-yes,” Eliza replied nodding quickly.
A few minutes later, Eliza found herself standing on the hills outside of the compound. Brian hadn’t been at the gate when she returned – having been replaced by another sentry who had watched her hawkishly as she exited the compound and started the trek back to Falcon’s Hook. In contrast to Brian, the man hadn’t spoken more than two words, his mouth pinched into a grim line. She hoped that she hadn’t somehow gotten Brian in trouble by making him leave his post.
As she crested the hills rin
ging the compound, Eliza’s eyes returned to the farm once more and her brow furrowed in thought. Her gaze lingered on the bell tower and the pens on the north side of the farm. The Hippie’s impossible task aside, something had definitely felt off. However, she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. Maybe Lord Baen would know what to make of her observations.
Chapter 25 - Obnoxious
The walls of Falcon’s Hook loomed in front of Eliza, the cracked and crumbling edges of the massive stone blocks already visible in the distance. Players and NPCs filtered along the road beside her and she tugged at her hood to hide her face. Being around this many people still made her uncomfortable – especially since she now had a reputation. Even if she had postponed laying her traps until things had settled down a bit, it didn’t hurt to be careful.
She managed to pass through the gates with little issue. The guards only spared her a cursory glance. Eliza soon wove along the narrow, winding streets of Falcon’s Hook. Dilapidated wooden buildings towered on either side of her and blotted out the harsh sunlight. As she paced down a backstreet, she saw a group of players approaching. They laughed and pushed at each other amicably – not even sparing a glance her way. However, she still pulled her cloak tighter and kept her head down.
“Ice Witch!” a voice suddenly shouted behind Eliza. “Ice Witch right here! Come and get her!” Eliza whirled, her hand clutching a wand and her free hand already moving through the gestures of Obscuring Mist. Yet she froze as she discovered the Hippie standing there – a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Shut up!” Eliza hissed, moving forward to cover the idiot god’s mouth.
“Why? It’s not like they can hear anything,” he replied, waving a hand at the group of players making their way down the alley behind them.
Eliza could indeed see that the other players hadn’t reacted to the Hippie’s announcement, although one young woman gave Eliza a furtive glance over her shoulder, noticing the water mage gesturing animatedly at thin air. The woman shook her head and turned back to her group.
“You’re a jerk,” Eliza muttered and promptly turned away from the god. She needed to meet with Lord Baen, so she continued heading toward the trading house on the eastern edge of the city.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” the Hippie said. “See, Fluffy, some people are just so sensitive.” This earned him a soft snort from the animal that trotted along beside the god.
“Sensitive? Because you’re going around screaming about how I’m some sort of homicidal maniac,” Eliza muttered, trying to keep her voice low as she saw the market approaching up ahead. There were a ton of people around now, and she needed to avoid drawing attention to herself – even if she really wanted to start blasting the god with her Ice Bolt.
The Hippie shrugged. “A little bit of murder builds character, that’s what my mother always said,” the god remarked. Then he hesitated for a moment, his brow furrowing in thought. “Wait. Do I even have a mother?”
The god spun toward his pet sheep, a look of horror painted on his face. “Fluffy, I think we might be orphans!”
Eliza and Fluffy rolled their eyes at the same time, sharing a pained look. “You’re a god,” Eliza murmured, trying her best to resist the urge to start hitting said god. “You don’t have parents.”
“I’m pretty sure that still makes me an orphan,” he replied with a woeful look. “How could you be so cruel?!”
Eliza knew he was just trying to bait her, and she managed to ignore his crazy antics. If she stayed quiet, maybe he would get bored and leave – she could only hope anyway. She spent several long minutes like this as the Hippie jabbered along beside her, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had stopped responding.
“Are you ignoring me now!?” the god suddenly demanded, sticking his face in front of hers and speaking loudly. “That’s not fair at all. In fact, it’s quite rude!”
Eliza gritted her teeth together, but she refused to acknowledge the irritating man. However, that plan didn’t exactly work out the way she intended. The god proceeded to dance and spin around her, hover his fingers in front of her face, and generally try to annoy her into lashing out at him. When all of that failed, the god abruptly decided to turn his attention elsewhere.
A shout erupted from beside Eliza, and she turned to find a group quarreling. “You stole the sword!” an NPC shouted at a player.
“I didn’t,” the player protested, his expression bewildered. “You can search me if you like!”
“It was sitting there just a moment ago,” the merchant said, whirling back to a table filled with weapons. He froze as he looked at the equipment, his brow furrowing. “It’s… it was gone a second ago… I could have sworn.”
The Hippie laughed loudly, thumping his thighs with his hands. Then he turned his attention elsewhere. All around the market, items began going missing, only to appear a few seconds later – after starting a fight, of course. The god also spent some time using tried and true tactics, such as tapping a player on the shoulder and then vanishing. Within moments, the entire market was in an uproar, and angry shouting filled the air.
“What the hell are you doing?” Eliza hissed at the god.
“Well, you were ignoring me, so I thought I’d at least have a little fun,” he explained, trying for a plaintive, innocent expression. Needless to say, Eliza did not feel sympathetic.
“Fine, fine. I’ll talk to you if you stop messing with people.” It irked her to give into the god’s antics, but it was probably better than letting him tease other people.
“How kind of you! Anyway, how are you coming along with my little quest?” the Hippie asked, now walking sedately beside her. “I expected you would be done ages ago.”
“It’s been like a day,” Eliza said through clenched teeth.
“Really? It feels like a long time,” the god replied, looking slightly confused.
Eliza’s patience finally snapped, and she stabbed a finger at the god. “It’s been a day. A single damn day. Putting that aside, you sent me off on a mission to recover an enormous freaking bell! What exactly do you expect me to do here?” She waved at Fluffy. “Even if I somehow managed to steal a bell the size of a tractor from a three-story bell tower, how the hell would Fluffy even be able to use it?”
The Hippie’s eyes were wide as she laid into him. Yet instead of getting angry as she finished her tirade, he simply glanced at the nearby players and NPCs – many of whom were now watching Eliza as though she was crazy. From their point of view, it must look like she was yelling at the air beside her.
“You’re sort of making a scene,” the Hippie said, a broad smile slowly curling his lips.
Eliza struggled to tamp down on her anger, suddenly nervous that so many people were looking at her. “I hate you,” she muttered before walking off at a brisk pace toward Lord Baen’s trading house.
“Oh, don’t be that way,” the god said, hurrying to catch back up to her. “Besides, if the quest were easy, there wouldn’t be any point. You told me before that you love fetch quests, so think of this as a giant fetch quest. Besides, I think Fluffy will look rather fetchi…” he began.
“Stop. No more puns,” Eliza snapped. “There’s a difference between challenging and impossible. The bell is several times Fluffy’s size. What would he even do with it?” Eliza demanded, trying to speak under her breath to avoid drawing any more attention.
“You just leave that to me!” the Hippie said, unaffected by her angry demeanor.
Eliza was nearing the trading house, and she eyed the structure like a runner during a marathon – the finish line in her escape from the god’s stupid antics. She upped her pace, walking as quickly as she could toward the building. Yet as she approached the trading house, she suddenly noticed that the god hadn’t vanished, and he still trotted along beside her with Fluffy in tow.
“What a beautiful view,” the Hippie said, marveling at the bay that stretched out below the cliff’s edge.
“Uh huh,” Eliza replied
noncommittally. “Don’t you have something else you could be doing? I need to talk to Lord Baen.”
The Hippie turned to look at her with a blank expression. “Nope. Our schedule is completely open. Fluffy made certain not to book anything for today – that way we could spend some quality time with you!”
“Lucky me,” Eliza grumbled, glaring at the sheep – who she noticed had edged behind the god to stay out of sight.
With a sigh, she pushed open the door to the trading house. She waved at the lone clerk sitting in the nearly vacant building, but the young man barely even looked up – much less tried to block her passage. A moment later, she tapped hesitantly on the oak doors to Lord Baen’s office.
“Come in!” the Lord’s gravelly voice came from within the room.
Eliza spared a final glance at the Hippie. “You better behave,” she whispered. This just earned her a grin from the god, and she shook her head. What was even the point? The irritating young man wasn’t going to listen to her anyway.
She pushed open the door gently and stepped inside Lord Baen’s office. She found the older man sitting at his desk and gazing out at the bay, his fingers drumming absently on the arm of his chair. As Eliza entered, Lord Baen turned, catching sight of her. His mouth contorted into a smile, causing the wrinkles on his face to crinkle.
“Ahh, Eliza. It’s good to see you,” the older man said, moving to rise and grabbing for his cane.
Eliza gestured for him to stay seated. “No need to get up on my account,” she said quietly.
“Such a kind soul,” the older man replied. “So, to what do I owe this visit?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I…,” Eliza began, hesitating as she saw the Hippie standing behind Lord Baen. The god had snatched the merchant’s cane and was hobbling along the balcony behind the lord, his back crooked and imitating the older man. She grimaced, but managed to keep speaking, “I managed to visit Tollhouse Farm and wanted to report in with you.”
Awaken Online (Book 3.5): Apathy Page 19