The Emissary Bard (World Of Chains Book 3)

by Lars M.

  "I'm... I'm sorry. Let's get you back to the bath house, and get a nice warm bath running for you." Standing in Aron's cesspit of a room had been bad enough - but suddenly the vivid image of having to crawl through the place hit me. I shuddered at the thought.

  "Better make that scalding. Ew!"

  We walked for a couple of minutes in silence while I thought dark thoughts about that bloody feat. "So… did you find anything?"

  She expelled her breath. "I... have no idea. There was just so much, and half of it was covered with leftovers or-" she stopped talking, shivering again. "The good thing is there's no way he's going to notice I was in there. The bad is I have no clue if any of this is any good. I took a note of any single thing I noticed that he probably got from inside the city. Here, take it." She handed me a note with tightly-scribbled letters, written all over, with no system to them.

  I patted her back. "Well done, Arack. You'll excuse me if I don't give you a hug right now."

  "I should, like, insist on it. You owe me big time, Uncle." She shot me a weak grin, though.

  Later that night, once Arack had been cleansed and fed, she appeared to be her own self again and was able to elaborate a bit on her scribbles.

  "The place was a mess, but you saw that. He didn't have anything lying around that I was able to use to pin on him - nothing I could spot by candle light, at least. So I went over everything I could find that was written down: receipts, letters, whatever he had that held a name or business name on it is on that tiny note."

  "Great job, Arack. Now it's up to me to finally become a Chronicler, so we can figure out if anybody on this note has left the city lately."

  Chapter 30 – Braving The Heights

  I stared at the quest notification before me with a small smile on my face. Three weeks in High Hold, and I’d already made it.

  Congratulations. You have completed the quest:

  Prove Your Worth

  You have reached Revered status with High Hold and are now considered a Probationary Citizen.

  Reward:

  You have received 500 experience points. Experience towards next level 3245/6000

  You are now granted access to the Wisdom of High Hold.

  Additional perks are now available throughout the city.

  A new Academy key

  Reveling in my victory, I spent a short while fantasizing over what I wanted to do first. Those 'additional perks' sounded absolutely wonderful. Obviously, the stores would be available to me now, but what else? Maybe, I could finally visit that restaurant they kept going on about...

  To be honest, I hadn't expected to be able to finish the Wisdom's quest before the Chronicler quest, but I caught a bit of luck. First off, my Center of Attention feat wasn’t all bad. In fact, it practically made people stumble over themselves to help me with my social quests, allowing me to play twice a day for additional reputation and a nice chunk of experience points. Not only that, but I ended up spotting a quest on the board that might look huge on the face of it, but ended up taking just a day’s' time.

  You have been offered a quest:

  Biggest Bada-Boom

  Sorcerers are well-known as being the prime damage dealers of Aeion. The Academy requires additional info on other classes, however. Compare the damage output of at least three different classes with at least two different spells at Apprentice level apiece.

  Reward:

  200-400 reputation with High Hold.

  300 experience points

  Accept/Decline?

  Whatever else I thought about my new feat, it sure helped me attract attention. When I reached out to the audience near the end of a noon break, challenging other classes to a shoot-off, they lined up. It turned into a whole public spectacle at the end, with mages trying to outdo each other by ripping apart some of the lifelike dolls from the Sonic Magic classroom. In the end, my report included five damage dealing classes and a full 20 different spells. Turns out, shamans scored second after the sorcerers, with bards following right after. Demonologists were toward the bottom, with druids making a sorry show of it. One single cleric joined in, but it was probably a dare, because he was laughed off the field within a minute. The paperwork might not have been top of the class, but the information within was plentiful enough that I gained the full reputation reward.

  My meeting with Carth was brief, but fruitful. "Not bad. It's been a year since somebody earned their Probationary Citizenship this fast. Of course, your tasks aren't going to change before you hit full Citizenship, but you do gain a little something - here." He handed me a new necklace, with the key gem hanging on a copper string. "This will open up one additional place here on the main level, a lounge for you to relax, with dedicated study rooms."

  The next step I had to take was obvious, and I got to it straight away. I left for the city, aiming for one shop in particular. The exterior of The Gilded Pen stood out as a diamond among coal, with a well-polished facade in stark contrast to the neighboring buildings. The interior of the store delivered exactly what the front of the store promised. An airy, professional looking shop, dealing in all the tricks of the trade for writers, Chroniclers, and gents and ladies of the Academy. An officious-looking ratling held the fort at the end of the counter, his bespectacled eyes taking in the shoppers of the luxurious wares like a general overseeing his troops.

  "Welcome to The Gilded Pen. Since this is your first visit, would you like me to elaborate on our services?"

  I knew exactly what I was looking for, but the niceties must be observed. "By all means."

  His half-bow preceded a speech he had clearly given many times before. "The Gilded Pen is the best and most quality-minded purveyor of writing aids, services, and materials in the entire Dawnlight Forest. On this side, you will find writing aids of all kinds, from the finest quills produced from crow feathers, to modern nib pens cast of iron, silver, or more exotic materials. We are well-used to creating custom orders and personalizing items. On your other side, we provide all paper and parchment-related items. Notebooks, scroll cases, water-resistant bags, and of course, paper and writing materials of all kinds. If you are in need of writing, painting, or calligraphy services, I can be of service." His proud smile encompassed the entire store. "How may we assist you today?"

  I'd known all along that it was going to be an expensive visit - but not how expensive. In the end, I left the place with just 2 gold and change to spare - but I did at least get a nib pen out of the deal. No annoying quills for me anymore. That was one place where Exogenics could do well to replace their realism with a nice, magic ballpoint pen. I stared down at my receipt. Even the receipt looked fancy. "One transcript of an eight-page document onto our finest grade paper, along with spell checks, quality confirmation, and wording assistance. Confirmed delivery to the Wisdom of High Hold today." Well - if the Wisdom were going to turn down my proposal for an alliance, it wasn't going to be because of the wrapping. As for the contents... I grinned.

  People rarely understand what a Trade Finance specialist does. Any attempt to explain my former job was invariably met with "Oh, you work in a bank?" and maybe a complaint about their local bank manager, or a question regarding advice on stocks or which real estate loan to choose. I could only answer any of these with a blank look. No, my experience lay entirely in going over the wordings of letters of credit and guarantees, looking for pitfalls or carefully worded traps - traps that could result in economic disasters later on, if they were not discovered. The best part, however? When one learns which words to look for, one also learns how to create these traps. The document that was about to land in the hands of the Wisdom was my finest work to date, and it was a piece of art.

  To be honest, only those in the trade were likely to be able to appreciate the artistry of it. Step one was always confusion. Introduce another level of language to obfuscate and convolute the question of responsibilities. "The city of High Hold, henceforth known as Co-advocate..." Next, once you'd ensured that they'd have to read the
sentences three times over to be sure they understood exactly who carried which responsibilities, you'd introduce the mindslayers. Several pages filled with lengths upon lengths of seemingly innocuous sentences, teeming with semicolons, outwardly holding the appearance of listing only a handful of completely logical and fair assumptions. In the real world, if anybody were to ask if all of it was really necessary, the answer would always be 'My lawyer insisted.' In this case, it was mostly phrase upon phrase of legal mumbo-jumbo, spending three pages to establish that Grant's Crossing was proposing an alliance with High Hold, and that said alliance held certain possibilities for responsibilities to unfold for the different parties.

  Of course, hidden within that mass of clauses, carefully phrased to appear as obscure as the rest of them, would be a couple of tiny details that, undiscovered, would make a difference in the end. Nothing too blatant or important, however - oh no, not yet. At this point, a persistent reader might still wrap their head around the contents of the document and call you on it. If they did, anything would still be excusable. "Oh yes, obviously this would only be permanent within the period of the document itself. If you insist on having it spelled out, we can do that right away."

  Then followed all the important sections, or so it would appear. The paragraphs outlining the responsibilities and the requirements for when said responsibilities should come into play. All of it relevant, to the point, easily understandable, and precisely what the good Wisdom of High Hold would want to read. Yes, of course there were limits on how often one city could call upon the other for aid, and the size of contingents we could call for. And yes, a trade agreement would come with a sizable discount to High Hold. All told, the agreement would be a massive win for High Hold, and the only real thing they would give up was the claim to any territory close to Grant's Crossing - territory that they didn't care about in the least. That is, of course, if you didn't bother with the fine print.

  The devil's in the details. Never has any saying been as true as in my former line of work. Usually, the real issues lay in the fine print and specifications following the actual agreement, and I made sure that the same held true for my proposal. "Events as laid out in C.2.ii will hold true unless events as outlined in E.1.iii shall happen before conclusion of expiry of the agreement." "Responsibilities as understood in parts B-D shall only be reversible before expiry with the written agreement of both parties." I made sure that the last three pages had the legal equivalent of three landmines, well hidden in a quagmire of completely agreeable (but equally obscure) legalese.

  Somebody might wonder why I went to all that trouble instead of just drafting a reasonable agreement. It would be a fair question, too. Truth be told, there were several reasons. One, I was slightly miffed that the Wisdom wouldn't at least hear me out before they dismissed me. Two, I wanted to ensure that Grant's Crossing got the best deal possible. Three, well, this was my kind of Mount Everest. It was right there, and I was going to mount the blasted thing and plant my flag on its peak after conquering it - metaphorically speaking, of course.

  The following days saw a drastic change in my routine. Suddenly, I had a lot of free time in the day, what with not having to grind for as much reputation with High Hold anymore. I could've dedicated all of it to my Chronicler task, but decided instead to spend it in the Academy, socializing to gain some progress on my other quests. My increased reputation, constant playing, and forced socializing via the social Academy quests all helped me dramatically. Everybody knew me by now, and, excepting the few people I'd crossed in my sprint for the finish line, I was well liked. This meant that when I chatted somebody up, they rarely minded taking a few minutes to answer my questions. With a rare few, I even asked them about Aron, chancing the risk of the news getting back to my dwarf adversary.

  The information I gained was unsurprising, though. Even though fewer people were making it to the city, people in the Academy either didn't notice or didn't care. I could only confirm that nobody from around here had made it to High Hold from the north side in several years. I did learn –that, as a whole, the existence of High Hold wasn't really a secret outside the forest. However, the news about the city being non-judgmental with regards to races or classes that would be condemned elsewhere? That piece of information hadn't really made the rounds. In most places, even if you should be looking for information, High Hold was still regarded as 'harpy territory, very hostile, do not approach.' Chroniclers, obviously, had the updated version, but they didn't really advertise their presence. Hence, the people from outside were typically either the adventurous type, like Cam and Soren, or somebody who wanted to escape their old life, regardless of the risk, like Sienna.

  As to Aron, I discovered no real news there, either, though I did learn a few facts. He was a bard too, apparently. That possibility would've been way down on my own list, but there it was. The fact that he played the harmonica was somehow less surprising. He didn't really spend time with the other bards, though, preferring to work on his Chronicler projects. Never did any Token quests either; apparently, the internal squabbles and ongoings of the Academy were beneath his notice. People liked him a lot, though. His crook-like appearance might frighten some away, but his gruff devil-may-care attitude as a whole made people enjoy his presence. There was even talk that he was being considered as an official aide to Mr. Jorantyr. Apparently, somebody up high had heard about the gnome's lack of social skills.

  As for his activities, there was but one of note. Food. From what I could tell, he spent every single copper piece and favor he earned on food. He'd even somehow gained the approval of the elusive Lirinee. That gave me an idea, and I spent a while traversing the city to check the list that Arack had created when we had broken into Aron's room. They served food or alcohol. Every single one of the places was a culinary experience, and Aron visited them all. Only two exceptions made the list. The Cunning Style, a clothier of decent quality, and The Gilded Pen, which I'd visited the day before. The Gilded Pen made a lot of sense for him, needing to buy writing implements and materials for his studies. The clothier, however? While he definitely needed new clothes, especially with his atrocious table manners, he didn't look the type to waste any money on sartorial expenses. It was nowhere near concrete proof, but stacking up enough circumstantial evidence might bring us to a conclusion.

  Two days after sending off the draft agreement, I was summoned before the Wisdom again. Great news, and based on the quest update, they hadn't torched my draft agreement.

  Quest updated:

  Winning Hearts and Minds, Part II

  With the worst local threats eliminated, the Council of Grant's Crossing looks to expand their hold on the nearby area. You have secured a pact with Nerit, ensuring stability in the east. In order to aid Grant’s Crossing, establish a non-agression pact with the local harpy nest to the west.

  Updated: You have been summoned before the Wisdom to discuss the final details of the alliance.

  Reward:

  Unknown - dependent upon the degree of success.

  +500 Universal Reputation

  There was one tiny issue, though. The summons wasn't set for the lower chambers, this time, but the Ruling Chambers. At the very top of the peak. I almost panicked at that. While I wasn't afraid of heights, as such, the thought of having to climb the mess of scaffolding, structural ladders, and rope ladders had me pretty convinced I should just kill myself and get it over with. In the end, it took a lot of preparations before we reached an arrangement where I believed that I had even the slightest chance of making it. It must have been damn amusing to look at. Arack went first, finding her way without hesitation while carrying a rope that she attached at regular intervals, with me following after. Every climb was an ordeal and left me feeling less certain with each step. As a back-up, Tirane had agreed to help with the tough spots, and she dominated the skies, circling around us to point out the best handholds, weak constructions, and, all too often, places where people had been hurt or killed during their climb. Be
fore long, I was convinced that bringing her had been a horrible mistake. Tirane, on the other hand, enjoyed my troubles, laughing at my trembling progress.

  I did manage to distract myself somewhat on the climb as I took in the structure of the mountain itself. With grudging respect, I was forced to admit that Wisdom Pallarson had been truthful in his boasting- the peaks of Mount D'hail were truly a work of art. As I climbed, buildings lined the stony crags, often carved into the rock itself, but sometimes even built out from the side of the mountain. There were all sorts of constructions, including passageways that emulated natural cave entrances, miniature palaces, and at one point, even one that appeared for all the world like the entrance of a building that would have looked right at home in the Shire. The only things all of the well-maintained buildings had in common were the craftsmanship and the care that was put into them. Once, I had to edge my way past three harpy sculptors who took far too much enjoyment in pausing their work to observe my climb. My agility wasn't the only thing that was tested, however. The climb took a heavy toll on my endurance, and I had to take frequent pauses to regain my stamina. We had started our climb before noon, but the time was already approaching late afternoon when we reached the final challenge. My goal was in sight as I gazed upon the grand, columned entrance that filled the entire mountainside leading up to the peak. Any exhilaration I might have felt was crushed when I took in the final challenge that awaited.

  "I... can't do that." My voice was wavering, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.