“And I’m a warrior,” I replied. I don’t like arrogance. I really don’t.
Mesmerta pursed her lips and addressed the dryads. “Get up, my daughters—you were able to fulfill your task after all. I may only be here temporarily and infrequently, and only until dawn, but I’m back. I alone of the Departed Gods have returned.”
I did have one thought cross my mind when she mentioned that, though it wasn’t the time or the place for it.
“Goddess, we waited; we believed,” Eiliana stuttered. “We did everything you told us to do.”
“Oh, get up already. I assume this is the chosen one?” the goddess asked, turning back to me.
“Yes, that’s him,” Idrissa confirmed.
“He’s defiant,” the goddess noted. “No respect, no adoration. Has everything really changed so much?”
The dryads were silent, apparently too afraid to confirm her suspicions. I decided to do the honors myself. “You’re telling me.” I grinned.
“Everything’s completely different these days. I may not know what things were like before you left, but now… Put it this way—not only will nobody be all that thrilled or sad that you’re back; nobody even remembers who you are. As far as whether people will obey and worship you, well, you’ll have to forgive me, but I sincerely doubt it.”
The frown on the goddess’s face intensified, and I saw her eyes start to darken as she watched me. I could have thrown a couple more jabs her way, of course, and gotten myself incinerated and sent back to Aegan. (I’d linked to the headstone there just in case.) I would have had to deal with the quest in that instance, though… What would the bosses think of that? I had sworn allegiance or something like that to Zimin… And I knew what I was getting myself into. But oh, how tempted I was to be done with the whole rigmarole right there! I was tired.
“It’s true, radiance,” Hilda said sadly. “They forgot the gods, all of them—dark and light. Fayroll doesn’t have any temples, any sacrifices, any worship. The only ones who remember you are the ones you created, and even some of them are glad you left.”
The goddess was clearly taken aback, and I could understand. She’d been off non-existing, when suddenly she’d been pulled back into the big world. She came thinking she’d get a red-carpet welcome, flowers, toasts, and all the rest. All she got instead, was a field at night, her four idiot underlings, and a person who couldn’t care less about her. I’d be upset, too…
“What about him?” the goddess asked, a finger pointed in my direction. “Why did he do this?”
“For the money,” I explained, mentally waving goodbye to my plan for a sudden death. Sure, I wasn’t too anxious to get involved with the gods, especially since the first goddess I happened to meet turned out to be a less-than-savory character. “Your devoted dryads rewarded me generously for my help.”
“Perhaps you didn’t even think about the great mission you were accomplishing by helping my children?” the goddess suggested indulgently and hopefully. “Now you understand how lucky you were, no?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter to me, I swear,” I told her. “Worthy pay is what’s most important to me. I’m a mercenary, Goddess, and mercenaries care about their fee first and foremost. They like when it’s generous and on time.”
The goddess turned back to the dryads. “Well, my children, let’s talk about what’s most important. Ahead of you is a critical mission—returning me to this world for good so I can take the throne as the supreme deity. We need my husband to come back, as well, one way or another.”
“Mesmerta,” I said to the goddess when I heard her mention her husband, “what kind of god is he? Severe? Fair? It’s just that I’m his follower—actually, his only formal follower at the moment.”
“A-ah!” Mesmerta replied, her face brightening. “So that’s whose mark you have!”
“You can’t tell?” I asked incredulously. “What do you mean?”
“The gods don’t have the right to see who serves who,” Mesmerta explained. “We can see when creatures serve someone, though we’re not given the gift of seeing who. It’s very frustrating. Sometimes, you just really want to turn someone into ash, and you can’t. What if they serve someone you need to be careful about?”
“I don’t know about that. If you think about it from the point of view of the person about to be turned into ash, it isn’t that bad,” I replied, scratching my head.
“About my husband, everything depends on what I think,” she said, transparently hinting that I needed to get on her good side. “He listens to my opinion. But yes, he’s always fair, though many have accused him of being cruel. He’s a warrior, and that comes with the territory. You should give that some thought, I’d say.”
She turned away from me again, figuring that I would give in and throw myself at her feet. They were attached to long and slender legs, obvious even though hidden under the dress. I had to say, though I wasn’t about to throw in the towel. I was happy to get the information, however.
Mesmerta started asking the dryads questions about names and places I’d never heard of. All except Tekhosh, that is. She was getting a feel for the situation in Rattermark, in particular, and in Fayroll overall. Realizing that they might be a while, I sat down under the birch tree and, strange as it may seem, fell asleep.
***
I’m not sure how long I was out, though I think it was quite a while. When someone started shaking my shoulder and I opened my eyes, the moon was in a very different place in the sky. There was still some time before dawn, though it didn’t look like much.
Mesmerta herself was shaking me, and she was doing it with her foot. “You’re sleeping?” she asked with indignation in her voice.
“Yes, imagine that,” I replied, annoyed. “It’s night out, and this is when I always sleep. Today, I had to stay up getting that chalice so you could come down from the sky, and we sent a whole lot of people up there in the process. Quite a few of them were really good people, too. I’m tired, and I fell asleep.”
The goddess pursed her lips again and sniffed in frustration. “Rejoice, for you have been chosen by me for a great mission!”
Damn, was all I could think. Here we go again.
Congratulations!
You have the chance to complete a series of epic quests: The Gods Return to Fayroll.
Accept?
“Is this a joke?” I really was taken aback. “What is that?”
“What’s wrong now, mortal?” Mesmerta shot back, starting to boil again.
“Where’s the reward?” I asked, confused. “Where are all the goodies? There’s nothing!”
“The right to complete the quest is in itself the greatest of honors. It was given to only one of the millions of creatures walking the land of Fayroll—you.” Mesmerta’s tone was pompous. “It’s the kind of good fortune you could only dream of.”
“I won’t argue with you about whether it’s good fortune or not because I’m in no position to say. But I’m not going to work for free. No offense. All labor should have its reward.”
Obviously, I’d be accepting the quest, since there was no getting around that. But without a reward? That was going too far. There had to be something by definition, and so I had every right to push for it.
“Let me remind you one more time, fair Goddess,” I continued firmly. “You’re working with a mercenary, and rewards are part of my profession. I respect you, and you’re the wife of my patron god, but still… Even Vitar himself wouldn’t understand what you’re getting at. You said yourself that he’s fair, if harsh, and that means he wouldn’t go trying to get services without paying for them.”
The dryads looked at me with wide eyes. It looked like they hadn’t even imagined that someone might turn their goddess down. Although, to be fair, I wasn’t trying to pull one over on her in the least; it was just that I really wasn’t going to work for free. I’d be out there racking my brain yet again trying to figure out their puzzles, and I could only assume th
at round two was going to be even more difficult than saving the dryads.
It was a trying time in Fayroll, too, and I was between a rock and a hard place. I wasn’t going to do the quest just because it was some great honor. And as I’d come to realize recently, all the toys I was collecting in the game could be flipped for hard cash in the real world. I didn’t know how long I’d be on Zimin’s good side—only God knew that. Or maybe the devil. But turning down the chance to build up a nice pot, secure in my hotel room, waiting for a rainy day, was not something I planned on doing. There needed to be an awfully good reward.
Mesmerta sighed deeply, swallowing her anger as she realized that she needed me. For now. “So what would you like as a reward?” she asked.
“Oh, unique and useful items with different magical properties,” I replied, starting to tick the different options off. “Armor, weapons, jewelry, rare abilities…it can be anything. I need it all.”
Eiliana came over to Mesmera and whispered something in her ear.
“Okay, warrior, you need a reward? Then you’ll have one,” Mesmerta said majestically. “You say it’s yours by right, and you can count on it. But don’t expect me to forget that you demanded payment in return for helping me.”
“That’s your right, though I’m not sure why you’re offended,” I replied with a shrug. “Believe me, Goddess, I’m far from the worst person you’ll come across here in Fayroll. When you come back, you’ll see for yourself, and maybe your point of view will change.”
“Let’s start by you getting me back,” Mesmerta said, all business.
Another message appeared in the interface, this one much more detailed.
Congratulations!
You have the chance to complete a series of epic quests: The Gods Return to Fayroll.
Reward for beating the entire quest series:
60,000 experience
100,000 gold
5 levels
The right to ask each of the gods returning to Fayoll one question and get a concise, complete, and truthful answer. If a god cannot answer your question, you will receive one legendary active ability for your class.
Three-item set matching your class
Unique ring: Divine Aid
+100 to one of your primary attributes
Title: Favorite of the Gods
Additional information: If the god (goddess, gods) you return to Fayroll favor you, you may receive the ability to travel to their throne and get the blessing of considerable bonuses once every three days.
Additional information: As you complete this quest series, remember that each quest has a hidden bonus reward. In some cases, you will be given hints about how to get them; in others, you will not.
Accept?
That was better. Much better, even. Those were the kind of rewards I could get behind, especially considering that I didn’t really have a choice.
“Well, my greedy hero, does that payment suffice?” the goddess asked sarcastically.
And she’s supposed to be one of the good, light gods. The evil ones must be the absolute worst!
“It’s excellent,” I replied with a nod. “Standard payment for difficult work like that.”
I tapped the accept button, the sky boomed again, Mesmerta lifted her arms in the air and laughed, and the dryads again fell on the ground.
You unlocked First Thread in the Tangle
This is the first in The Gods Return to Fayroll series of epic quests.
Task: Find out how to get Mesmerta back to Fayroll.
Reward:
5000 experience
Rare gem
Random ability scroll
Ability to unlock the next quest in the series
“Well, my children, there’s just one thing left,” Mesmerta said as she reached out a hand toward the prostrate dryads.
I opened my map. Well, of course!
“Hey, hey, hold on a second.” I tapped Mesmerta on the back with a bent finger. “Am I missing something here?”
“Mortal!” the goddess hissed back like some kind of viper. “How dare you touch me? Who do you think you are?”
“Nobody important. You hired me, and now I’m trying to do my job and get you back here. That’s all I’m looking to do,” I replied, not backing down. I knew what life was going to be like with those gods: giving nothing, and asking every day why I wasn’t done with what they needed. That meant I had to stay on my toes and miss nothing. “Just tell me where to start my search, and I’ll get going.”
She had to know where the beginning was. It was a quest, and there’s always a hook. The group in front of me had to be the first hook.
“I have no idea!” the goddess yelled back at me. The trees whipped back and forth in the wind, the dryads trembled. “I’ve been off in the Great Nothingness, so how am I supposed to know?”
Huh, it looks like she actually doesn’t know. That’s a twist!
“Goddess, can I say something?” Hilda stammered, picking her head up off the ground. Mesmerta graciously nodded her assent.
“In the Sumaki Mountains, there’s a hermit,” Hilda said to me. “I heard about him from the Wild Hunt once when they were in my clearing. From what they said, the hermit knows everything that is or ever was because he has been alive since the foundation of the world. I think you should talk to him. The only problem is that it’s hard to get there and even harder to convince him to speak to you. At least, that’s what the Wild Hunt said.”
“Great, so it’s time for some mountain climbing,” I replied, not bothering to hide my displeasure. “Can you be any more specific about where the hermit lives?”
“No.” Hilda shook her head. “I do know his name, though: Ort Ashen.”
Additional information for First Thread in the Tangle
Go to the Sumaki Mountains and find a hermit named Ort Ashen.
I pulled up my map again and saw that a red spot had appeared. It was a good ways off, that was for sure, though that problem was more manageable.
“One more thing, warrior,” Mesmerta said, jabbing me in the chest with a finger. “Don’t take too long bringing me back. You have four months, and if you miss the deadline…”
Additional information for The Gods Return to Fayroll
You have four months of in-game time to complete the quest series.
If you fail the quest series, you will receive a curse: Unliving, Undead.
Your level of health will never be higher than 5%.
You will be denounced as an enemy of the goddess Mesmerta, and all races friendly to her will also see you as such.
Getting the curse would have been a death sentence, leaving me with no other option than to create a new character. Speaking of curses and all that, I’d had an idea right after I’d first heard about the quest to bring the gods back. It was time to make it happen.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
In which the sun comes up over Fayroll (part two).
“I won’t miss it; I don’t have a choice,” I assured the goddess. I was just about to continue talking to her, however, when she turned back toward her dryads and started discussing some divine topic or other.
I coughed a few times. That didn’t work. “Miss Goddess?” I had to tap her on the back again. “We’re not done.”
Mesmerta’s face in that moment was unpleasantly reminiscent of my clan leader’s. At least, that’s how Elina had spent most of our latest meetings looking at me.
“Mortal, I could destroy you where you stand!”
“No, not right now you can’t,” I replied. “Who would bring you back from the Great Nothingness? But don’t be offended, Mesmerta, I’ve been trying to get your attention, and nothing’s working.”
“Never. Ever. Touch. Me. Again. And pray that my husband—and your lord—doesn’t hear about this.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not what I wanted at all,” I replied. “I have something else I need to talk to you about, something directly related to the quest. It turns ou
t, there’s going to be a problem with it…”
My head drooped sadly.
“What is it now?” Mesmerta squinted at me.
“A wedding,” I replied, even humming a bar or two from Mendelssohn’s Wedding March for good measure.
“Stop right there; I understand,” the goddess jumped in. “Who are you supposed to marry, and why can’t you just postpone it?”
“With a vila; it’s soon; and I’ll be cursed if I don’t do it,” I said, the words tumbling out. “How can I postpone it? You were the one who rigged it up with all the curses and other familial joys.”
“An excellent choice.” Mesmerta was the first to approve of my choice instead of calling me an idiot. “Vilas make for wonderful wives: they’re kind, faithful, and the perfect housewives.”
“That’s all well and good, but you can’t really go very far once you’re married to one. How am I going to complete your quest then? With a young wife in tow? I don’t think she’ll be happy about that.”
The goddess paused to think. “Where’s the Supreme Vila, by the way?” she asked one of the dryads suddenly. “Is she still alive?”
The dryads faltered again, leaving me to pick up the slack. “She’s alive all right, sitting in a marsh not far from here. She rules the vilas and tries to catch passersby to restructure their personal lives.”
“So, why isn’t she here?” The goddess scowled. “She had to have felt that I descended into this world. I get the rest, but her…”
The goddess snapped her fingers and barked a word I didn’t know. A gap appeared near the top of the dome, and a minute later, the Supreme Vila, her face a mix of confusion, flew through it. She was missing her cloak and shoes.
“Explain to me, Regina Rem Trigge,” the goddess said sweetly to the vila, “why you didn’t appear the instant I crossed from non-existence into existence.”
The vila mumbled something, tears coursing down her face.
“Excuse me, Goddess,” I said, deciding to cut in. The stars were already starting to fade, and I didn’t know the gods to be a particularly forward-thinking group. “Would you mind finishing our business before you clarify things with her?”
Fayroll [04] Gong and Chalice Page 36