by Jakob Tanner
“Yes,” said the woman. “He used to be such a carefree child. Now he’s so quiet and sullen he goes unnoticed. But he notices you though. He must’ve seen me. A few people have asked me if I’m alright and to tell you the truth, I’m not.”
“Oh really?”
Here it comes. The set-up for the quest baby.
“It’s Tien, my betrothed. I’ve barely seen him the last few days and whenever I’ve spoken to him, he ignores me and runs away. Does he no longer love me?”
Shit. This was not your average fetch quest. I wanted to go find her fifteen slabs of bear meat to make a stew. Not this. The quest prompt appeared in my HUD:
New Quest Alert: What’s Wrong With Tien?
Sabetha’s fiancé is depressed and won’t speak to her. Find out why to put Sabetha’s heart at ease.
Quest Type: Unique
Quest Difficult: Medium
Reward: 500 EXP + ?
Accept: Yes/No ?
“He definitely still loves you,” said Shade, eyes sparkling. “How could anyone not?”
The woman blushed and I nudged Shade to knock off the charm. I accepted the quest and said to Sabetha, “We will look into this for you. No problem. Do you know where we can find Tien?”
“He works at—”
“Aieee! Do I pay you to loiter in the streets? No!”
Sabetha’s shoulders jumped. “Uh-oh. My boss. I better get back to work. Tien works at the fishmonger down the road. Try there.”
The woman returned to the restaurant to face her petulant manager while I led the way—with Shade slumping along begrudgingly—towards the fishmonger.
The Aeri District’s fishmonger was on a side street that dead ended at a canal of murky green water. As we approached I asked Shade, “Where does water go if there are no oceans?” I asked.
Shade shook his head and sighed. “They really don’t teach you Chosen anything in the world from which you come, do they? Water falls into the sky, returns as clouds which then rain and fill up our lakes, swamps and rivers.”
I guess that made sense. “But wouldn’t that mean there’s water at the bottom of the cloud oceans?”
“Let’s not talk about what’s at the bottom of that wretched sky.”
Shade had gone sullen. Contemplating yet again the Lirana’s lost city and continent. It was one of the many mysteries lying beneath the endless depths of the cloud ocean.
“Agreed,” I said and stopped in front of the fishmonger’s place.
My nose scrunched at the intense stench of mackerel and cod and well—those were the only fish I recognized beneath the glass display case, resting over the piles of crushed ice. Odd translucent fish with clear skin full of pink gelatinous insides laid neatly on the ice, their dead beady eyes staring up at me. Other odd fish lay lifelessly behind the display: heads of dead baby sky wyrms, furry tentacles, and scaly indigo crabs.
“What kind of fish are these?”
“The regular kind you find in the sky,” said a blue-haired Aeri man with a wrinkled face. “Nothing too interesting is in season at the moment, but Cloud carp is on special today!”
Sky fish. Crazy. There was a whole other world existing in the clouds, one I had barely even discovered yet.
“We were actually looking for Tien. We were told he works here.”
The man crossed his arms. “Tien—that deadbeat?” He smiled. “The kid’s out back.”
At the end of the smelly shop, we found a young Aeri man standing on a canal dock with his head hung low.
“Are you Tien by any chance?”
The man’s eyes widened with fear. “Who wants to know? Did Nolan send you?”
The man scrambled and reached for a nearby cleaver.
“Whoah, whoah,” I said. “I don’t know who Nolan is. Sabetha sent us. Your fiancé? She’s worried about you.”
The man’s shoulders fell with relief. Next, he sunk his face into his hands and sobbed: “Oh sweet Sabetha. How I miss her! But I can’t go to her now. Not when I know Nolan wants to kill me.”
“Mind telling us who Nolan is?” said Shade.
“Nolan is one of the city’s most nefarious crime bosses. I borrowed money from him to buy the wedding ring for Sabetha. I thought paying him back was feasible, but I can’t. Now he’s going to come and take back what I owe him in flesh.”
“Holy crap,” I said. “How much was the ring?”
“Enough that I owe Nolan my life since I can’t pay it back.”
“Can’t you return the ring?”
“If you saw the look on Sabetha’s face when she saw the ring,” said Tien. “You’d know such a thing isn’t possible.”
A prompt appeared in my HUD.
You have successfully completed Quest: What’s Wrong With Tien?
+500 EXP!
+Optional New Quest. Speak to Tien.
“The only thing Nolan respects more than money is loyalty,” said Tien. “If I proved to him I was loyal, he’d know I would eventually pay him back. He would let go of his late payment policy.”
New Quest Alert: Nolan’s Loyalty
Help Tien prove his loyalty to the crime lord Nolan.
Quest Type: Unique
Quest Difficult: Medium
Reward: 500 EXP + ?
Accept: Yes/No ?
The plot thickened. I accepted the quest and asked Tien, “Alright, then. How do you prove your loyalty to this Nolan fellow?”
“Everyone knows the crime bosses hate each other. They love to see misfortune strike their competitors. If I collected ten green badges of slain bandits of the crime lord Drakus I would prove my loyalty.”
Quest Update: Nolan’s Loyalty
Collect 0/10 badges of crime lord Drakus’ henchman for Tien.
Finally.
It had only taken over seventy-two hours of being in this world for it to happen. For something generic, mundane, and totally normal to happen in this game.
It was beautiful and exactly what I wanted.
A fetch quest.
15
The crime lord Drakus had a warehouse in the engineering district north of the Aeri neighborhood. My original plan hadn’t involved taking such a massive detour, but the experience points were good from both the quest and from the ten bandit mobs we’d have to kill. And let’s not forget the loot as well.
The engineering district in Land’s Shield was an area full of winding pipes and chimneys, warehouses erupting with the noises of heavy machinery. Ash and sparks flew and flurried from the sky like falling snow. The streets were a cacophony of banging hammers, igniting flames, and sputtering engines. Hovering over the district was the end product of all of the workers’ labor: the North Land’s Shield aerodrome, an open glass structure with docked vessels and floating frigates flying off into the sky towards far-flung destinations.
My awe disappeared as a large black structure came into view, Drakus’ warehouse. The front entrance was protected by two guards. The steel grating was opened and revealed a large building full of boxes and crates. What sort of criminal activity went on back there? Shadows of more goblin henchman stretched across the concrete floor but what they were doing remained mysterious. Screeches and cries of an unknown creature echoed from the doorway.
Shade and I spied on the warehouse from the opposite corner.
“What’s the plan Clay?”
“Wait—you don’t have a plan? You're the sneaking expert here.”
Shade raised his hands in defense. “I never wanted to enter this gang war with you. I wanted to do a little gambling and maybe—just maybe—get a little drunk. Is that so much to ask?”
There was no time to bicker. We had to make a plan fast. The warehouse had one entrance, so we’d have to sneak by those guards. For this quest, we’d have to fully utilize Shade’s thief-class abilities.
“Can you send me your class ability sheet?”
Shade stared at me until a message popped up in my HUD:
Thief Class
As a lurker in the shadows, a denizen of the alleys, a criminal through and through, you achieve your goals through stealth, cunning, and intrigue.
Effect 1: Stamina Bar unlocked
Effect 2: +40 stamina points (SP)
Effect 3: +10% faster movement
Effect 4: +15 luck
Effect 5: +15% resistance to all damage in the cover of shadows
Effect 6: Cannot wear heavy armor
Effect 7: Cannot wield heavy weapons
Crafty Observance: You have keen sight and notice things others do not.
(Passive)
Stealth: If you move slowly and keep to the shadows, those who you wish to not see you, don’t.
(Passive)
Steal: Take the possessions of others and turn them into possessions of your own. Acquire opponent’s weapons, armors, items, and gold. Success rate depends on “luck multiplied by 0.8 - opponent’s awareness”
SP: 4
Slide: Slide around an opponent to the side or underneath to appear somewhere else entirely, distracting them and opening up devastating possibilities for you to enact. Grants +10% movement speed, +15% block
SP: 3
Quick Swipe: Slice your blade faster than your opponent can handle
ATKP: 10-15
MP: 2
Backstab: Triggered when attacking from stealth, does five times the damage otherwise given.
SP: 4
Assassinate: Finishes off an enemy below 20% health.
SP: 15
Sniper’s Eye: Ranged attacks do 2.5 x damage
SP: 4
Poison Blades: Grants your next dagger attack a high chance of landing a poison debuff on opponent.
SP: 5
Shadow Retreat: If below 20% health, disappear in the shadows for thirty seconds.
SP: 6
Reading over Shade’s Thief Class character sheet, I was very pleased. This is exactly what I wanted right now. A semblance of a plan was coming to mind. It was still midday so we didn’t have the cover and extra shadows of night. But we still had a chance. I outlined the plan to Shade and got to work.
On my own, I moseyed up to the two guards, both goblins. They had light green skin and pointy ears jutting out horizontally from their heads. Red squinty eyes, angled into angry slits, sat above their large crooked noses. They wore shabby armor made of leather hide. Each had a rusty iron sword sheathed at their side.
Their stats appeared in my HUD.
Goblin Bandit
Level 7
HP: 200
MP: 8
Two meters from the guards, they both reached for their hilts. They were sending a message. Back off.
I ignored them and continued my approach. I turned to the guard on the right hand side of the entryway.
“Excuse me, I’m a bit lost—do you know how to get to Trader’s Forum from here?”
The goblin’s face creased with annoyance. He unsheathed his sword, his attention fully on me now. His back was turned and so was his partner’s. He had no indication of the translucent figure sneaking its way towards him.
“Back away,” said the goblin.
I nodded my head. Over the guard’s shoulder, his partner’s eyes bulged out of his skull as Shade backstabbed his neck with two poisoned daggers. He quickly covered the goblin’s mouth with one arm as he dug holes into the guard’s stomach. Spools of blood shot everywhere.
+122 EXP!
The goblin snapped a finger in my face. “I’m not afraid to cut you up Aeri.”
Shade gently placed the goblin corpse on the ground.
“One more question,” I said.
“No. I’ve had enough. You need to—agh—”
Shocked saliva flung into my face as the goblin guard in front of me took his last breath. He collapsed onto the pavement as Shade pulled his blades out from his neck.
+122 EXP!
“Brutal,” I said, wiping the spit off my face.
I bent over and looted the goblin. I actually only had four slots in my inventory at the moment. I was too busy shopping at the market I had forgotten to get rid of my excess gear and junk. I left the goblin’s weapons behind but made sure to pick up the quest item.
New Item Alert! Drakus Gang Pin Badge (x1)
I picked up the trophy item and dematerialized it into my inventory. I hurried over to the other dead goblin on the floor and picked up his pin badge as well. Two down, eight more to go.
“Let’s hurry,” I said. “Before anyone leaves the warehouse or a new patrol comes in for their shift.”
We headed into the warehouse. We clung to the shadows and hugged the concealment of large crates. What kind of stuff were they packaging and transporting in this place? If they were the mob, was this like a fantasy drug smuggling ring? The warehouse reeked of a tobacco-like smoke. Laughter and chit chatter abounded while underneath it were those screeching cries.
Beyond the crate was a table of six goblin bandits sitting at a table playing cards. Three more guarded the table from different directions. Across from the table was a stack of bird cages. Each one housed a scraggly red-feathered bird with a large beak and slumping neck. Each one clucked and cawed, crying from its cage. They were malnourished phoenixes and these goblin bandits were using them as high-value gambling chips.
It filled me with disgust. Let’s take these guys out.
Shade gripped my arm, anticipating my anger and immediate plan to charge in there.
“Rushing in won’t do us any good. We need to fight smarter. They may be lower level than us but it’s still nine on two.”
I took a deep breath. He was right.
“Okay,” I said. “Same plan as before. You head over there. I’ll go in and distract them. Backstab as many as you can until you can’t utilize stealth anymore. At which point we’ll start picking them off one by one. Sound good?”
Shade nodded his head. “Perfect. Give me a minute to get into position.”
The thief crouched down and snuck off into the shadows. I took a deep breath and then another. Shade only needed seconds to get into position.
“Hey dickheads,” I said. “Time to die.”
All nine goblin bandits turned around. They got off their seats and unsheathed their swords, running towards me.
My fingers clutched at the air, harnessing it like a thick string of rope, and pulled upward as the surrounding ground cracked and rippled. Jagged stone shot from the floor, tripping and confusing the bandits. One bandit fell, injuring his leg.
My arms whipped in a wide sweep, drawing more energy between the air and the earth. The floor cracked, ripped, and tore apart even more. The goblins yelled in frustration. They climbed over the wrecked ground, coming towards me.
Most of them were down to 80% HP. I whipped out my new fire staff and ignited my palm with a fire ball. I stepped back and flung it at the incoming horde. I had to keep my distance as my class was squishy as fuck—a slash or two from their blades and I’d be dead.
I unleashed lightning cage. A whip of bright blue electricity flowed out of my palm and wrapped itself around one of the enemy goblins. Perfect. Now it was only eight on one. I threw out another lightning cage to even the odds even more.
I let thunder fill my legs, casting shocking speed, running from the gang of goblins. They chased me, swords raised. I kept turning around, throwing fireballs at them to keep their aggro on me. I moved through the warehouse, the onslaught following behind.
I received confirmation our plan was working. Glorious notification prompts appearing in my HUD.
+122 EXP!
+122 EXP!
+122 EXP!
+122 EXP!
+122 EXP!
+122 EXP!
+122 EXP!
The mobs were so focused on chasing and killing me, they didn’t keep an eye on their rear and the thief taking them out one by one from behind them.
There were only two left. Both of whom had been chasing me but were now running towards the warehouse exit.
> Hell no.
I unleashed lightning cage, paralyzing one of the bandits. Unfortunately the other one jumped out of the way as he exited the building. Shit. I wanted to get all of them, but fortunately we only needed eight. Forget the last one. I didn’t care.
Shade crept through the shadows of the warehouse and lunged towards the paralyzed goblin from an angle it didn’t see coming. The backstab took him down to less than 10% HP and a few quick swipes finished him off.
+122 EXP!
Shade stood over the dead goblin. A golden glow emanated from his body. He had leveled up. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped down his bloodied blades. “That was a lot of destruction.”
“You’re telling me,” I said. “At one point I thought I was going to take nine rusty swords to the chest.”
I hurried around the fallen goblin corpses, looting their pin badge trophies. Once we gave these to Tien our quest would be complete.
There was only one last thing to do before we left.
I went over to the metal cages. The birds inside were still crying. I opened each one. I bent down and materialized three slabs of croc meat from my inventory. I unsheathed my crappy melee weapon, a rusty sword and cut the meat into tiny little pieces. The group of birds gathered around and picked at the raw meat. They gobbled it up in less than a minute. I petted one of them. They were so much happier now they had eaten and were free. I hoped the memories of those awful goblin bandits wouldn’t stick with them for long.
One by one the phoenixes flew out of the warehouse through the exit and towards the roofs and church spires of Land’s Shield. One phoenix turned to face me. It shook its back side at me until three red feathers fell from it. The bird nodded at the feathers.