Dungeon Observation Outpost, Former Ulis Farmstead

Braced for impact, our group tumbles out of whatever between-space that shitty Kon wizard uses for teleportation.

"I'm gonna hurrrl..." Jade dry-heaves after successfully landing on her feet. Probably forgot to not hold her breath. Mistake.

"If you do, I'd appreciate it greatly if you weren't stood on my leg at the time," Jupiter requests, face-down in the grass beneath her.

She coughs away the nausea, stepping back, "Sorry."

"Think nothing of it."

Windy lands on her feet, carrying the still weakened Trom, and Henna just barely keeps her balance. Neither I nor Angelus seem to have any difficulties finding our footing.

Per my request, we have arrived not too far away from the Ulis farmstead. The sun, however, has almost set completely, so if we want to have a word with the Captain, we need to make our way over to her with haste. When we switch over to night, Captain Jelle will be, officially, off-duty, and I don't know if this Quest will override that or not.

"If you've all gotten your faculties in order, let's go speak to Captain Jelle," I instruct, marching off without awaiting their responses.

Fortunately, the Outpost is still in daytime operations when we arrive, which means that she is still doing the exact same pre-scripted motions she always does just outside the farmhouse. Getting Windy to put down Trom, and handing over the collected documents, the two wooden NPCs engage in a conversation that has little impact on us until the end. In other words, he introduces himself, requests asylum, explains what Geronil is doing and she accepts.

 

 

 

Hm. That's a very nice effect, particularly for healers. Useless to me, personally, but it'll be a nifty little bonus for Angelus once we get to a point where we need to start worrying about status ailments. The extra Fame and Reputation are what interest me the most.

"Your group may shelter here while the messenger is en route to their destination. We shall bring this heinous criminal to justice, for the glory of The Empire of Stone, and the safety of it's citizens!" Captain Jelle declares, snapping off a very well-executed salute, "Please speak to Sergeant Mose inside, and he will see to your temporary accommodations. Your service and integrity are appreciated, Citizens. The Empire does not forget those who serve it well."

Excellent. That'll save us some hassle. I was ready to find a place to camp out for the night.

A Quest window opens in response, that essentially boils down to us needing to wait two Real days of time for the Empire to take action. It doesn't reward anything specific other than a free ride with the troops sent to apprehend Geronil back to Meteo City - part of the reward is deferred, including our temporary shelter here.

"So, what happens now?" Windy asks.

I think it over, "It's too late to do anything else, for now, so if you want to leave I won't stop you. Before that though, we should settle accounts with Mr Jupiter here, considering we did just bail him out of prison even though we didn't have much reason to want to other than the Quest."

"I don't mind giving you one of my kidneys if that's what it takes, but I'll thank you to leave the rest of my organs where they are," Jupiter quips, "I need them to live and the loss of the grandest of mages to ever grace this land would be an eternal tragedy. I get that I'll probably respawn but eh, details."

"Can I shoot him?" Jade stares at him with murder on the mind.

I sigh, "No. Not after what we just did to rescue him. Jupiter, will you be available tomorrow?"

"Mmmnooo. Not like, officially anyway, but I can call in and pretend to be sick or something. I'll catch hell for it after, but I do kinda owe you a big favour so I can live with the scolding," he admits, "Why, we going into Farmer's Folly or something?"

"You can't seriously be asking him to join us?" Angelus asks me judgmentally.

I rub my eyes, "He's a Hedge Mage who, from context, focuses on damage. We just so happen to need one."

The team press their lips into a line, clearly not happy about it. It is what it is. 

"I half-expected you to try and pull Olrica in for this," Windy notes, "Does it have to be a Hedge Mage or Trapper specifically?"

"Without someone who can help deal with the ridiculous quantity of adds for us, the difficulty reaches low Silver-Tier. Me and Jade simply do not have the ability to deal with them and the boss. But, I digress," I turn to Jupiter, "We'll be tackling a dungeon, obviously, but not Farmer's Folly. Are you interested in repaying a dungeon run with a dungeon run?"

Jupiter gives me double finger guns, "I'm so in. I've been wanting to do a proper dungeon since I started, but uhhh...never really had the chance to. I mean, Farmer's Folly wasn't really well-known and I was chasing leads on this whole Magpie Demon questline. Also maybe sort of staaaalking you. Just like, a little. To get the Quest. You guys know the rest."

While it is unfortunate he lacks experience, and some gear, so long as he stands in the exact spot I tell him to and blasts the adds as they come, we should just about manage it with a bit of effort - but I have to admit that this is far from ideal. We don't even have enough gear to equip him properly and making Angelus share his wouldn't really help all that much. 

Not to mention it'd piss him off, and you do not piss off your healer.

"Welcome aboard, I guess," Windy says, resignation dripping from her words.

Immediate matters settled with the group, I decide to conclude the impromptu meeting, "Reconvene at 11am GMT+1 tomorrow then."

Looking around I spot Henna stood off to the side, looking out at Fander Field, "Log off without me, I need to check in with Henna first."

Exchanging farewells, I walk over to the smith. As per the norm, she doesn't acknowledge me immediately, though she does notice my presence. Instead, she kneels on the ground, raises a single fist, then strikes down, once, twice, six times. Then she stands, staring at the soil-stained and lightly bleeding knuckles, breathing heavily with restrained anger.

"Stone Gold for your thoughts?" I call back to our last serious conversation.

"That's...still a shite joke," Henna growls, deliberately steadying her breathing, "I just needed to vent a little."

"I'm sure that Merrow appreciates being used as a substitute for Geronil's face," I remark, a little tactlessly I admit, "Do you want the full story now that we're not in immediate danger?"

"Please," Henna tenses up, bracing herself for the story to come.

"Forgive me for skipping a few details here and there for expediency. From what I understand, Geronil is a Trapper turned Demon Contractor - which means that he has access to Ward magic of rather nefarious nature. The most relevant for this story is the Tier-2 Spell, Seal of Subjugation, something that he can use to effectively enslave vulnerable targets. Which is exactly what happened to Lamnon when he started snooping around the disappearances."

"Geronil...enslaved that coward?" She doesn't seem to want to accept that.

"Saw the Seal myself when I interrogated him. I should explain that he is entirely in control of his own faculties, but disobeying orders set by Geronil will cause immense pain that will even erode his soul if he doesn't bend the proverbial knee. It doesn't force him to do anything if he disagrees strongly enough, merely discourages rebelliousness. So when your Dad started looking into the same disappearances, well, you can imagine what happened next. He became inconvenient - even more so than he was already as the only Blacksmith in the city not under Geronil's thumb," I continue, refusing to absolve Lamnon in any way.

Henna closes her eyes as she absorbs this information, "So because of that coward, my Dad is dead, is it?"

"As good as. He will likely be part of The Magpie Demon's Collection right now, and only someone with an Authority greater than Arevas can hope to do anything about it. Something you'll find to be in short supply, I'm afraid, assuming the process can be reversed at all. It's been over a decade since it happened, and an ordinary Ignorant soul can't survive exposure to that level of Presence for long," I conclude, not wanting to give false hope.

Nursing her hand, Henna exhales angrily, "Why...did this happen at all?"

"Geronil had the power and the will to do it. A power he gained by borrowing from another, whose association only made an already power-hungry, greedy fool moreso," I inform her, "Your father, while his heart was in the right place, lacked the strength to see it through, and lost his only ally to their rank cowardice. His doom was never in doubt, only when."

Henna glares at me, likely wanting to turn her frustrations upon me for besmirching the memory of her father. Instead, her shoulders and head sag, tears dripping to the floor.

"I hate this," she laments, "This powerlessness. Silver, tell me. From where does your confidence and calm come?"

"A sense of purpose and the knowledge that I will never stop growing," I answer without hesitation, "If I can't achieve my dream today, I will be stronger for tomorrow. Then, when I finally achieve a goal, I set a new one. I find contentment in my weakness, because it means I can still be stronger than I am."

I smile nostalgically, "It's not something I really understood until I first met Lady Jannis, and I'll freely admit that these ideals aren't originally my own. But they helped me realise that the incident that took my own parents left a hole I never knew how to fill - so I decided to live for myself and fill it with a newer, better 'me'."

It's not a perfect way to live, and even now I'm discovering old flaws in my thinking. But even that's part of the fun of it.

Henna stands up straight, her eyes still a little red, "And the killing?"

"Violence is, for better or worse, oftentimes the most efficient or the only appropriate response," I tell her, "Losing yourself in carnage or guilt will only lead to a dead end. But more than that, you should find your own answers...I can't tell you how to think and feel, nor do I wish to. You have to take responsibility for yourself, even if you ultimately follow someone else. Lamnon is what you get when you abandon your morals and independence to someone else."

Feeling it appropriate, I pull out the Fang Pin one last time, take her limp hand and place it in her palm, "This pin once represented Lamnon and your father's convictions and dreams. Not mine. Not yours. What will you do now? Live in his memory, or for yourself?"

Henna stays quiet, contemplative. I surreptitiously glance at the counter, and almost yell when I see the number rapidly climbing. I suppose that the woman is in the middle of experiencing an epiphany?

After darkness finally descends on Firmament, Henna grasps the pin tightly, bringing it up to her face for a mere moment and shutting her eyes. She extends the arm, then her fingers, and opens her eyes as her palm tips sideways, the pin falling to the ground.

Henna pins me with a piercing stare set with clarity of purpose and determined will, "Silver. I wanna learn how to fight for real. Please help me."

I smile and clasp her hand, "As promised, I will."

 

 

 

 

Happy as I am, I set aside the popups for the time being, and rummage through my inventory, pulling out the reliable old Beginner's Bronze Zweihander, and handing it over to her, "This will have to suffice for the time being, as it is the only weapon I can consider myself to be an expert with. If you wish to develop other skills, I will endeavour to point you in a good direction."

"Alright," she nods, accepting the sword and rubbing her damp eyes, "Thank you, Silver. I don't understand what I've done to warrant all this, but I will become someone ya can rely on when you meet your lows, I promise."

"I'll hold you to it. As much as I'd like to continue chatting or start a lesson, it's been a stressful day for both of us, so we will have to pick this up tomorrow when I have some time to spare," I apologise, "Get some rest."

"Alright. I'll...stay out here a little longer. Rest well, Silver," Henna smiles, a little more at peace, and turns around.

"Good night, and Stars Bless," I bid farewell

---

 

Barracks, Former Ulis Farmhouse

Taking off my equipment and settling into the cot in preparation to log off, I run over the days events until I'm satisfied, then look over the ignored notifications. I find it a little silly that I now have as much Charisma as I do Strength at base, and potentially more if I equip the new Iron-Tier Title I got, making Charisma my second highest stat once I'm fully equipped.

It's not completely worthless for my plans, but I really can't afford to invest much more into it in order to get the most out of the percentage increase.

Most interesting to me, is what the Followers tab will have to say about Henna. Opening it up and focusing on the only entry in it, I bring up a rough approximation of Henna's current status.

 

 

A Potential of 8.7?! That's Platinum-Tiered! 'Grow into someone I can rely on', indeed. Henna's potential is absurd - literally one in a million. I'm starting to have doubts as to whether or not I'm good enough to be her teacher - this seems more of a job for Lady Jannis herself, if anything.

Henna, if only you knew what you were capable of from the start, you could have already taken over half the Empire of Stone by now.