The Emissary Bard (World Of Chains Book 3)

by Lars M.

  You have been offered a quest:

  Crack The Code

  In order to pinpoint the location of the attackers, you will need to decipher the meaning behind the map.

  Reward: 300 experience points

  Accept/Decline?

  We spent ten minutes bent over the damn thing before I had to admit that my mind was firing blanks. "I don't know, Gillem." I coughed, grimacing from the irritating tickling in the back of my throat. "I do know that it's been a bastard of a day, and my mind is fried. How about we locate our beds and look at it first thing tomorrow?"

  "That works for me, my friend. Autoria has everything under control by now, it seems. Things might not be good, but they can hold the fort without us." We ambled back toward the tavern, regarding the damage to the village with dismay. The gnome coughed, then grimaced. "Hey. I'm glad you're back. Whatever else happens, we'll handle it."

  I put a hand on his shoulder. "True. And make those bastards regret this."

  Before long, I entered a fitful sleep in the tavern, sharing my furs with Darya.

  Chapter 34 – Bitch Of A Homecoming

  "It's no code I've ever seen, and I've seen a few in my time." Chertog frowned at the piece of paper. "What would those circles mean? Maybe they're changing camps a lot, and they stay in either of these."

  I shook my head. "That would make no sense. Herbert said something about a castle. Why would they move around if they can stay in a castle?"

  Darya cleared her throat. "Hey, boys. Not trying to rush you, but the Mayor's going to hold a speech in a bit, so we should probably get going. Oh, and maybe the castle isn't in one of the circles, but the meeting places are? They are trying to hide, aren't they?"

  "Good point. On both counts. Let's go, Chertog. You're coming, right?"

  The dwarf held on to the map like it was a treasure. "Obviously, I am. I need to solve this."

  We walked out of his cabin and started toward the town square. We tried hard not to pay attention to the seven covered forms placed next to the cabin - the victims of the night's attack. In daylight, Grant's Crossing didn't look nearly as affected as it had appeared during the night. The structural damages were less widespread than what I had expected the day before. Only a handful of buildings had burned to the ground, a tiny miracle in a wooden village like ours. Even so, the day carried a fog of despair that hung about people, along with the ever-present stink of smoke and death.

  I corrected myself on one count, however. This was no longer a village. It was a town. Even with the damage, I could see progress everywhere. New buildings were being erected, both in the tent area where the kobolds stayed and beyond. Yesterday, upon our arrival, I had noted that constructions were spilling outside the town as well, with several new sheds and lean-tos taking up space alongside a couple of newly erected fields.

  Chertog was lost to the mystery as we walked, however. "Hrm. You are a bright one, Darya. A castle is not exactly easy to hide. If they weren't completely paranoid, they would have been discovered by now. Meeting places does make sense."

  I frowned. "How about the different circles, though? They wouldn't have twelve different meeting places. It wouldn't make any sense that they'd have to man a dozen different meeting places, or outposts, or whatever they are."

  Darya snapped her fingers. "Months?"

  Chertog squinted at the paper. "It is an even dozen - and it would make a lot of sense. They would only have one spot to man, they could move around in order to not stay in the same spot constantly. Hrm. The letters are all wrong for it to be months, though. M, Tha, H, G, S, L, D, Ta, C, B, Thr, N. Must be names or words of some kind."

  "Why?" I asked.

  "Oh, because the only ones to have several letters are the ones who start with the same one, to differentiate them from each other. See? Tha. Ta. Thr."

  Darya quelled a yawn with her fist. "Almost sounds like the periodic table. I hated that one."

  "The what now?"

  She waved him off. "Never mind. It looks like Autoria is about ready to speak."

  Indeed it did. We entered the square just as the usually so stately gnome emerged from her house and turned to face the crowd. She was dressed simply in dark, sensible pants, a shirt, and work gloves. Her voice carried over the assembled crowd. "Dear friends, I will not keep you for long. Tharlenn knows we have too much to do for long-winded speeches. I am merely going to state one thing, but I mean it with all my heart. Friends. Family. Brethren. This will pass. We will overcome these setbacks, grow in strength, mourn our lost, and obtain justice. Anybody who can spare a hand or who needs help, please come see me. Gods go with you, and we will gather tonight to pay our respects."

  Darya nodded in approval as the crowd dispersed. "I like her. Short and to the point. No need to blabber on."

  "Gods. That's it. Why didn't I see it right away? Mallard would have spotted this right away." I grabbed the paper from Chertog and pointed triumphantly. "They're the names of gods. 'Tha' must be Tharlenn. 'Thr' is Thracken. Let's see. Marren, Harrah, Girelle, Serune, Liayelle. 'D?' What's that? Please tell me I'm right."

  "Of course. Dreben - the god of Halflings. Tarral, Cariola, Beren, Nietu - hah, how simplistic. I cannot believe I didn't spot it right away."

  Darya's eyes shone. "This is when you tell us that each god has their own month or time period associated with them... right, Chertog?"

  He grunted. "Exactly. Once you see it, it's obvious. Children born in February belong to the sign of the Temple, which is associated with luck and Dreben. That would mean, if we're right, they will be right... here." He planted a heavy finger on a circle in the north-eastern part of the map.

  The blinking notification due to the quest completing told me that our guess was right on the money. "Excellent. Let me talk to Autoria. Darya, did you manage to flag down one of the scouts yesterday?"

  She nodded. "We agreed he'd keep watch around the village, check in once an hour."

  "Great. I think we should have enough to get on with it. Let's run it by Autoria, see what she thinks. Before that, though," I took Darya's hand. "This is one hell of a reunion. I swear, we're going to get the chance to spend some time together soon and catch up. For now, how are you holding up?"

  Darya shot me a tiny smile, but her eyes flashed. "Thank you for worrying. You shouldn't, though. Worry about those blasted murderers. I'm furious, is what I am, and once I catch them, I'm going to take it out on them in a bad way. Attack my village? And you're damn right, we're going to catch up. Leave a girlfriend alone for too long, and she may develop... moods.” Her voice grew softer, sadder. ”It never seems like there's enough time, though."

  I gave her hand a squeeze. "You can say that again. It's just one emergency after the other." I leaned toward her, and we just stood there for a while, forehead against forehead. Her presence was intoxicating, and I found it more than a little difficult to detach myself.

  Eventually, we parted, and her eyes flashed again, this time with something warmer. "Soon. Now? Now, we work on that revenge."

  I pulled up my notifications on the way over, and as I had expected, the quest had completed and I was 300 experience points richer.

  Autoria was busy talking with the town's carpenter when we approached. "For now, it is just clean-up. Gillem has agreed to house the ones who are left without a residence until we have fresh homes ready for them. You will find that there are enough free hands available to help, which means you will mostly be needed to guide the activities. I am aware that the Harbormaster's house will be a large task. You may want to save that for last." The young man nodded and left without a word, and the Mayor offered me a chagrined smile. "Arcangelo. I apologize for the lack of decorum. If anything, I should have thanked you for the warning you sent us."

  I waved away her concern. "We've all been running around like crazy to minimize the damages." That was definitely not a lie. In the mad fervor of the night before, my Affect Emotions had increased a total of four times, and my memory was a littl
e fuzzy around the edges. "We're here because we found something." We filled her in on the details. I could almost see her mind at work, analyzing the facts, categorizing, planning, and creating mental spreadsheets for each piece of action necessary.

  Darya finished. "So that's it. We believe that we know roughly where they are. It's still a large area, but with the aid of the harpies, we should be able to find them."

  Autoria nodded. "Well done. Well done, indeed. We will ask the scout to take off shortly and attempt to hunt down the locations of our attackers. As for you, Arcangelo, could I trouble you to return to my house this afternoon? The Council, such as it is, will hold an emergency session, and I should like for you to be present."

  "Of course."

  "Thank you. Now, moving on to the current situation... you have both been invaluable in your help lately. Our village would have been in a much worse position had you not aided us throughout these trying times. But I will need to ask this: can Grant's Crossing rely on your help one more time?"

  "Yes," we answered in unison and without hesitation.

  "Good. We are, unfortunately, more limited in our actions than we should be. With the current information and the attack, we are within our rights to ask for assistance from the Cabal. We are citizens, pay our taxes, and do not shirk our responsibilities. However, we are also aware that the second group is escaping towards this castle as we speak, in order to warn them that they failed in removing the Council. Hence, if we take the time to involve the Cabal, we may miss our window of opportunity to act."

  Darya shrugged. "Well, that's easy. Let's take the fight to them."

  Autoria shook her head, staring straight at the tall half-orc. "You forget. We are not Reborn, and neither are we fighters. If we decide to go up against a battle-hardened group such as we met yesterday, people will die. I will not order anybody to do this. However," she sighed, "neither will I stop anybody who wants to lend aid. Being a victim is not to my liking, and I will assist everybody who should want to join. You are aware which day it is, correct?"

  My confused "no" mixed with Darya's simultaneous "yes."

  The tiny gnome's mouth quirked up. "Apologies. With such circumstances, it must be hard to keep track of everything. We do need to find a moment for you to brief us on the time you spent in High Hold - later today, perhaps, when everything has settled down a bit. As for this evening, it is Reveler’s Moon. You missed the last one when you were in Nerit, Arcangelo. It is a monthly time of celebration, usually, where we gather, feast, enjoy ourselves, and reflect on our position. I find it hard to imagine that there will be much reveling going on tonight, however."

  Reveler’s Moon. My mind spun off, wondering where I knew that name – until I remembered one of the few remaining open quests I had in Grant's Crossing.

  How the Crossing Came to Be (Chronicler Quest)

  You have learned a smattering of stories about the past of Grant’s Crossing. The origin and creation of Grant’s Crossing has never been officially chronicled. Compile the true story from the perspective of each of the four founders and reveal it to the village at Reveler’s Moon.

  Updated: All four stories obtained.

  Instantly, I knew exactly how to approach the evening. Still, for this kind of coincidence to take place – having Reveler’s Moon occur the very day after the attack? Either somebody in Exogenics was really having fun orchestrating things, or the AI was off on a wild bender. I fixed Autoria with my gaze. "We will do our best to wipe this threat off the face of Aeion. How can you assist us, exactly? We do have some tools at our disposal, but we'll take anything we can get."

  "Money. It always boils down to that, doesn't it? Well, I will ensure that anybody who wants to join you is outfitted properly. Between the rest of the Council and myself, we should be able to handle that, even with the latest hits we have taken." She shook her head mournfully.

  "Thank you very much, Autoria. That should help a lot. You have anything else, Darya?"

  "No, just practicalities." She asked for the map, showing it to the Mayor. "See, that's where we believe they are right now. That's a five or six day hike with good speed. Even if the second bandit group has a head start, they should still be unaware that anybody knows they're there. So, how about this: we send the scout back to High Hold, ask them to fly straight to the place and locate them. Then, if they're willing, they keep a watch on the place and we meet somewhere around... here, perhaps?" Darya indicated a spot to the east of High Hold. "That way, if we leave tomorrow morning, we should be able to get to them only a day, maybe two, after the group returns, and they won't have had time to react yet. We can meet up with the scouts from High Hold and formulate a battle plan."

  Autoria nodded along with her explanation. "Yes. That should work. Let me phrase a response for High Hold immediately. Arcangelo, how certain are you of their assistance?"

  "High Hold? Pretty certain. I mean, they're definitely going to help us find them. I can't be sure how much aid they'll give us outside of that."

  Darya growled. "We'll make do. Just knowing where they are and what we're up against would be enough. Anything beyond that is just a bonus."

  The single new quest was exactly what we had expected.

  You have been offered a quest:

  Eliminate The Infestation

  You have finally located an opening to rid The Dawnlight Forest of the infestation of bandits that have been preying on both Grant's Crossing and High Hold for years. Hunt them down and make sure that they will never resume their depredations.

  Reward:

  Unknown - depends on success.

  Accept/Decline?

  We excused ourselves and moved on. Darya grabbed my arm. "What's the plan for tonight? Want my help?"

  I laid my hand on top of hers. "Always. As for ‘plan,’ that's a bit elaborate for what I've got right now. My hopes are that we'll be able to convince a good handful of villagers to join us in the hunt tonight, maybe raise their spirits somewhat in the process. I could use a good sounding board for my ideas, though?"

  "You've got it."

  We hid ourselves away at a table in the tavern, planning the best approach. Twenty minutes later, Darya slammed the table. She had been fidgeting for a while. "Damn. I'm not helping anymore. I wouldn't know the first thing about handling a crowd." She drummed on her legs with her fingers before scooting her chair back to stand up. "I'll go see if I can get Naevys to join us. Maybe Benneth, if I can find him. That way, I'll be of some use, at least."

  I got up and embraced her. Holding her shoulders, I looked at her. "You do know that it's just a moment until the roles are reversed, right? With us back in the forest, I'll look to you for help every moment."

  Her frustrated growl was answer enough, and I pulled her to me for a long kiss. She sighed. "I know. I... know. I just hate the inactivity. I need to do something. Huh. Maybe Mrs. Bertinga has some good maps of the northern parts... and some decent ingredients. Maybe-" Her voice trailed off as she descended into an inner monologue, and I shooed her toward the door. Then I went back to thinking about music.

  I knocked on the door to the Council's meeting room and was bidden to enter right away. What met me was a sorry sight. Grant, Gillem, and Autoria were all fairly morose, and Grant Callahan especially looked like a shadow of himself. From the soot-covered shirt he wore, I doubted that he had even had a change of clothes since the day before. The look on his face was pure murder, though.

  He growled, "Let's see it already. You have the agreement with High Hold, right?"

  I passed over the copy, and they pored over it, pointing out specific paragraphs and wordings. In the end, the vicious-looking half-orc pushed it away from him. "It's as good as we could hope for. None too specific with regards to the actual help that they're going to provide in a situation such as this. Still, the mere fact that you've been able to come up with a mutual protection pact is better than expected."

  "Thank you. I do believe that they're willing to provide addition
al aid when push comes to shove, but that's just a hunch."

  Autoria gave me the first warm smile I'd ever seen from her. "We do appreciate the assistance, Arcangelo. Once all this blows over, this alliance will surely be of great help to Grant's Crossing going forward. The trade agreement should be of aid to both High Hold and us as well. I can see any number of ways to use this to our advantage already."

  Mr. Callahan slammed his fist on the table. "Blows over? Who cares about trade agreements right now?"

  Autoria's back was rigid and her voice cold as she answered, "Calm yourself, Grant. This will pass. We need to think about the future."

  "The future?" Disbelief furrowed his face as he growled, "They attacked our village. They torched my house. They almost killed my son!"

  Her voice was soft as she answered. "I know, my friend. But they failed. We knew from the start that founding this village would be a struggle. You are not going to give up now, not when we are this close to reaching our goal?"

  "No. Of course not. I will hunt them down and make them pay for what they've done."

  "You will do no such thing. You will honor your part of the agreement and shoulder what burdens you must to ensure our village thrives. You will not hare off to die in some glorious battle, leaving your son without a father." Every word from the tiny gnome was delivered with adamance, and the half-orc grew older second by second.

  His voice was that of a defeated man. "But my son..."

  "Right now, your son spends more time mourning the loss of his wardrobe than worrying about the attempt on his life. He will move on soon enough. There is more at stake than your personal honor."