by Phoenix Grey
Trudging through the water to get to the gnoll's corpse showed its effect. The water slurped at his feet, slowing him. Azure felt like he could have gotten the same results by using his Grease spell, except Grease didn't cause any damage. It had been apparent by the way the gnoll had reacted to being hit with the water blast that it had taken damage from the spell.
Once he reached the body, Azure performed the easy part of looting the gnoll by taking its mace.
You have received the following item:
Rusty Mace
Attack: +2-6
Type: One-Handed Weapon
Durability: 4/13
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.6 kg
With that done, he knelt by the creature's side with his Black Dagger drawn. Cutting off the gnoll's fingers wasn't enough. Azure had to dissect them for the bones before another notification popped up.
You have received the following item:
Gnoll Phalanges
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Uses: Crafting.
It was bloody, tedious work.
Next, he turned the gnoll over and began cutting out its spine. This was even worse.
You have received the following item:
Gnoll Spine
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.2 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Dismantling the creature felt barbaric. Not only that, but it was taking way more time than he would have liked. At this rate, if Azure went back and looted all of the corpses for their body parts, he wouldn't return to Squall's End before nightfall, not that it particularly mattered.
Backtracking proved to be challenging. With the gnolls so spaced out, it was a time-suck locating their bodies. His memory wasn't that great, and apparently, neither was his tracking, because he seemed to be following his footsteps in circles. After locating five of the six remaining gnoll corpses, Azure gave up when he noticed the sun setting. He hadn't traveled by horseback at night yet, and he wasn't sure how the bats and shadowlings would react to Flicker, but he didn't want to test it today. Besides, he was tired and frustrated. While he needed the money, Azure felt like he could afford to leave one set of gnoll parts behind.
After exiting the forest, Azure cast Summon Mount and headed back to Squall's End. He could turn in his magic school quest some other time. Even though Mareike had made the quest sound urgent, it didn't have a time limit.
The lanterns were being lit by the time Azure rolled into town. Feeling exhausted after a long day of hunting gnolls, beer was calling his name. He went straight to the tavern, surprised to find no one waiting there for him. Not bothering to concern himself with it, he ordered a pint of beer and some supper, drinking the amber liquid down while he Analyzed people who came and went and waited for his friends.
It was a slow night with few patrons, which made the atmosphere a bit more relaxing. Once he finished his first beer, he was tempted to have a second but knew better. Switching to water, Azure decided that as soon as he finished it, he’d go looking for Uden and Lonnell. Unless they’d taken another quest at The Adventurers Guild to pass the day, they should be up in their room.
Almost as soon as he thought it, the brothers made an appearance. They looked rested and chipper, heading straight to his table to take a seat.
“Someone needs a bath.” Uden pinched his nose as he sat next to Azure. “What are you, some kind of animal?” He tapped a blood stain on the front of Azure’s chainmail.
“Don’t touch me.” Azure gave him a warning side-eye, then turned his attention to Lonnell. “Did you guys pick up a quest?”
“That we did.” Uden pulled the quest paper from his bag and smoothed it out on the table in front of Azure.
Adventurers Guild Quest: Captured by Kobolds
One of Lord Blakemore's servants has been captured by kobolds. He's offering a reward for her safe return. It is suspected that the kobolds have taken her deep into one of their dens. Rescuing her won't be easy.
Designation: E
Type: Bounty
Difficulty: Hard
Deadline: 7 days
Success: Rescue Jasmeen Merton
Failure: Cancel quest or die
Reward: 21 gold, 6 silver, 6 copper, 1 Quest Point
Will you accept this quest: Yes or No?
“Good God!” Azure’s eyes bulged at the reward. “You’d think she was royalty with this price. Why haven’t we gotten a quest like this?” He slapped the paper with the back of his hand, his eyes shooting up to meet Lonnell’s.
“I suspect it has something to do with the amount of Luck he has.” He smirked at his brother.
“Well, I just got a bunch of new equipment that bolstered my luck, so hopefully I’ll get paid more from now on, too.” Azure just couldn’t get over the sum. It was absolutely ridiculous.
“I bet you’re glad I’m back now.” Uden patted Azure on the shoulder.
Azure quickly brushed his hand away. “I said, don’t touch me.”
“Fine,” the half-imp huffed. “You’re disgusting right now anyway.”
“You do smell like blood and bowels,” Lonnell agreed, wrinkling his nose. “You should take a bath before coming up to the room.”
“Noted.” He frowned at them before casting his gaze down at the quest paper again. “This Lord Blakemore seems to have lots of problems, little help, and more money than he knows what to do with.”
“Money?” Lonnell asked.
“Coin,” Azure quickly corrected himself.
“Sounds like you know this guy,” Uden pointed out.
“Yeah. We did our last bounty with him. He sent this knight with us who ended up dying. The guy was a real asshole. You would have loved him.” He forced a dry smile. “You’d think he would have paid more for the staff.”
“You would think.” Lonnell nodded. “But we were only there to assist. Perhaps that’s why the pay was so low.”
“Whatever the case, I’m not going to argue about making bank. This will be a good reward, even split between the four of us.”
“That’s if Janine even agrees to come.” He seemed doubtful.
“Speaking of Luuq.” Uden nodded toward the door. Janine had just entered the tavern, looking as exhausted as Azure felt. After a few steps, she spotted them and began heading over, taking a seat next to Lonnell.
“Hey guys,” she said in greeting.
“Hey there,” Azure replied.
Tension filled the air for a few seconds. Azure knew he’d have to get the conversation rolling quickly, lest the discomfort scare her away.
“So this is the quest we got.” He slid the quest paper over to Janine so that she could look at it. “Seems easy enough, and the reward is big.”
“Kill a bunch of kobolds,” she paraphrased.
“It won’t be that easy,” Lonnell informed him. “Some of them can cloak themselves in invisibility.”
Janine leaned back. “I don’t think you guys really need me.”
Uden put on a chipper tone. “But of course, we do. The more the merrier.”
They all seemed surprised by this. Just yesterday, he didn't care if she came along.
“I don’t know.” The dwarf shifted her weight, allowing her eyes to flick to Uden for a fraction of a second. “The last bounty we did was pretty hard.”
“It will be easier with more of us,” Azure tried to convince her. “Besides, the difficulty ranking should only be tuned to him.” He gestured toward Uden. “And he’s a lot lower level than all of us.”
“You don’t have to keep bringing that up,” the half-imp grumbled.
Janine smirked at his grumpiness. “I suppose if he needs to be protected, then maybe I should come along.” She turned her nose to the ceiling, teasing.
“Not you, too.” Uden slumped.
Good. They're communicating. This might work after all.
“Then it’s settled.” Azure pushed the quest paper back over to Uden. “We leave first thing in the morning.”
The dwarf sighed. “I suppose I can help you guys one more time. But just this once.”
She shared a look with Uden, and Azure swore he saw sparks flying again. He just hoped that the half-imp didn’t fuck it all up before the night was through.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE REALM – Day 85
By some miracle, they all returned to their own rooms that night. The next morning, the guys met Janine in the tavern, and then they all headed to the market to gear up.
All of the loot that Azure had collected from the gnoll quest garnered him 23 gold, 1 silver, and 9 copper. He also sold 16 Fireweed, and his Bronze Cuirass and Bronze Sword for 1 gold, 3 silver, and 5 copper. Surprised by the amount of coin he’d earned, Azure realized that going on this quest was now unnecessary. Still, he’d committed, and they’d gone through a lot of trouble to get Janine on board, so he wasn’t going to back out.
The entrance to the kobolds' den was surprisingly close. A trip that typically would have taken three hours on foot ended up taking four due to Lonnell foraging along the way. Uden and Janine took turns killing everything in their path. While Uden needed to level up more, Janine was still greedy for the experience. After a brief argument, they came to the agreement that Uden would kill all of the monsters up to his level, and Janine would take care of the rest up to level 11, at which point Lonnell and Azure would step in to help with anything higher than that. It seemed like a fair compromise. They never encountered anything high enough for Lonnell and Azure to have to step in though.
After diverting from the main road for about an hour, the forest gave way to a large hill with an opening that appeared to be a burrow of sorts. Standing outside of the entrance were two kobolds.
Trees surrounded the area, providing good cover. The Adventurers Stealthed themselves, and Azure activated Analyze to get an idea of what they were up against.
Level 3 Kobold Sentry.
Level 5 Kobold Sentry.
To his surprise, he hadn't lied to Janine. It appeared that the quest was calibrated to Uden's level. This was going to be a cakewalk.
Since the kobolds weren't a challenge for any of them but Uden, they sent him in on his own. Slipping into the shadows with the same finesse as he'd had when he was a higher level than Azure, the half-imp disappeared to make his way behind the hill. His Stealth was less impressive when they saw him creeping toward the kobolds from the side of the mound. It made Azure want to snigger, but he refrained.
The kobolds seemed to be some ungodly mix of lizard and ewok. Their skin was scaly, yet they somehow were covered with random patches of fur. An underbite with fangs jutting up decorated a short, black muzzle. Hunched over, their hands and feet seemed too large for their bodies, ending in wicked looking claws. Their long arms hung between their legs, their paws touching the floor, providing balance. Round ears protruding from the sides of their heads did nothing to alert them of the incoming danger. Then again, while Azure and the rest of the party could see Uden approaching, his footfalls were so soft and carefully placed that he couldn't be heard.
He pounced on the first kobold, making short work of it almost before the second had even noticed. The next several minutes were spent with the second kobold swiping at the half-imp while he parried then wove in to attack again. All Azure could think about was how easy it would be for him to down the kobold with an arrow. Part of him wanted to do it just to be a dick, but he also knew that it wouldn’t benefit their party for Uden to remain weak. If they really wanted him to level up, Azure should have grabbed a Bounty quest instead. Then he could have piggybacked off of their higher-level kills. This would be good for getting his feet wet, though. And for hopefully convincing Janine to continue to quest with them. Azure still wondered how in the hell this quest paid so much when it seemed extremely easy.
Once Uden was done taking care of the sentries, they regrouped to enter the burrow. It looked like any other hole in the ground, dark and smelling of earth. Roots and rocks protruded from the sides, and it had a soft downward slope to it. The opening was just wide enough for them to travel side by side two at a time.
Azure made torches for him and Janine while Lonnell resorted to using his Small Flame spell.
They proceeded onward, listening for any signs of approaching enemies. It wasn’t long before another kobold emerged from the shadows, though this one was a bit different than the last. What fur it had was tinged with red, unlike the brown of the sentries. It Analyzed as a level 4 kobold guard.
Again, Uden took the lead, attacking with his daggers. The rest of the party hung back, and Azure wondered if Lonnell and Janine were feeling the same way he was...wondering when they'd finally see some action. As it was now, it felt like they were only there to protect Uden from anything he couldn't handle.
The burrow had no shortage of kobold guards. It seemed like they encountered one every few yards, all too low-level for anyone but Uden to bother stepping in. He leveled up on the next one, and they all congratulated him.
“Our little man is growing up,” Azure teased, at which he was met with a glare.
They reached the next level of the dungeon a little after noon, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Even though Uden’s Stamina was more than halfway depleted, they decided to descend, knowing that together they could likely handle anything than lie below.
As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the tunnel split off in two different directions. The Adventurers shared a look.
“You and Uden, me and Janine?” Azure suggested to Lonnell.
“Shouldn’t we be split more equally, just in case?”
“Do you really think we’re going to encounter anything powerful here?” He raised a brow.
“Probably not. But it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Lonnell cast his flame down the left path.
“I think he and I can handle whatever comes our way.” Janine looked to Uden. It seemed that she was interested in getting some alone time with him.
Ignoring her, Lonnell said, “I meant me and you should go together, and Azure and Uden should take the other tunnel.”
“Maybe we should let them go together,” Azure said of Uden and Janine. That way, they could hash out whatever was going on between them. All day, everyone had interacted normally with very little tension. Whatever spark the two had shared last night seemed to have dissipated during the journey to the burrow.
“Is this really that important of a decision?” Uden seemed bored.
“I suppose not.” Azure sighed. “You’re with me.” He looked at Uden, then turned to Lonnell and Janine. “You two pick a path.”
“Well, we’re already facing this way. We’ll take the left.” Lonnell stepped to the side to claim the left path.
“Sounds fine to me.” Janine crossed her arms over her chest, seeming a bit upset that she hadn’t been paired with Uden.
“Let’s get this done.” Uden led the way down their path, and it wasn’t long before they encountered their first enemy. He charged in while Azure activated Analyze.
Level 6 Kobold Warrior.
This kobold’s fur was even darker, almost maroon. Azure guessed that was how to tell them apart without Analyzing them.
He waited as his friend struggled against the creature. It was strange to see Uden have to put so much effort in against a monster that Azure could have easily taken out in one blow. Strange but somewhat entertaining. Oh, how the tables had turned.
“So what’s the deal with you and Janine?” he asked while Uden was busy looting the corpse.
“What deal?”
“There’s this weird...thing going on between you.” Azure made a circular gesture in frustration that he couldn’t find the words for what he was
trying to say.
Another kobold warrior appeared, and Uden rushed forward, cutting off the conversation. Azure waited impatiently, leaning against the burrow wall with his torch in hand.
The half-imp returned winded, wiping sweat from his brow. “Whew, I’m getting tired.”
“I can take over whenever you’re ready. It won’t be anything for me at all.” He pushed himself from the wall.
“Bragger.”
Azure ignored him. “Back to the topic at hand.”
Uden turned around, walking backward. “Janine and I will be fine.”
“Janine and you, huh?” That was news to him. It was hard for Azure to picture the half-imp and the dwarf together. Such an unlikely pair.
Uden paused to listen to a sound that Azure couldn’t hear. “Heads up. Incoming.”
A few seconds later, he was running down the tunnel to engage the next kobold in combat. By the time Azure caught up, the creature was already dying at the half-imp’s feet.
“You know, I don’t really need the light.” As if to prove his point, Uden tilted his head toward Azure. The torchlight reflected from his eerie green eyes, reminding Azure of a cat in the dark.
“I know that. But I do.”
“Pity. It might be fun to watch you fumble around in the dark.” A wicked smirk took over the half-imp’s face.
“I could kill you with one blow,” Azure warned.
Uden stepped up to him, amusement etched in his features. “But would you? You went through so much to bring me back.”
The closeness made Azure uncomfortable, so he took a step back. “Let’s keep going.” He gestured further down the burrow with his torch.
“Yes. Let’s.” The half-imp refocused his attention, flanking his comrade’s side.
“Back to the subject of Janine,” Azure mentioned after a few minutes of walking.