Illuminaria [LitRPG Fantasy Healer Adventure]

49 - Introductions

As the sun was close to setting, Joe was making his way back to the Adventurers Guild. He spent a little longer with Corran and Padu after the tale, asking a few questions. The biggest revelation was that the task of watching Glen Cumha was the reason the pair were living here in Illuminaria, instead of returning to his homeland across the Veil.

The Oak Baron himself had tasked the bugbear knight and his Cú Sídhe hound with the duty. That fact answered one of Joe's questions; the Oak Baron had not just become a silent oak; he was still able to rule his people. The command given to the knight was, should the Lark King break free or the wards fail, Corran must inform the queens. Otherwise, he should stay quiet. The Autumn King wanted the ladies of Summer and Winter to give as little thought to their fallen brother as possible.

Both the knight and his lord feared what the queens might do regarding any change to the Erlking's status, or to any mortals of Illuminaria that were meddling with the valley. At the moment, it was in the queens' best interest to keep the status quo; they essentially split the rule of the Gossimer Lands uncontested by either king. They would not be gentle toward any agent of change interfering with that standing.

As he entered the Guildhouse, Joe could hear a hubbub of activity coming from the main hall. He followed the sounds and found more guild members assembled within the auditorium than he had ever seen together before. Mojo looked about and dashed down Joe's body, circling his feet. Clearly, the little guy was excited by new people, but more so, he wanted to go see some of his favorite friends. Before Joe could move, the shug monkey dashed across the room, clambering up Kenda's side while yipping to her before launching himself at Wen. All eyes turned to the happy changeling before rotating to Joe.

"There you are," Myllo exclaimed to Joe. "We were getting a titch nervous when nobody knew where you and your small friend had wandered off to. Alright, that is about everyone then, just waiting on our other new guilder," he announced to the room. "Give me a minute and I'll start handing out assignments." The guild leader returned to the conversation he was having with a colorfully haired gnome and a tiny mouseling woman. Joe had seen Puqmup around the guildhouse already. The gnome was the guild's treasurer and ran the internal shop for the organization. He was a very friendly guy. He had not yet met the little mouseling.

Myllo's fluid height was apparent here again. Joe knew that Puqmup came up to his mid thigh, while the guild leader usually stood midchest when they talked. Now, Myllo looked to be only an inch or two taller than the gnome.

As Joe headed across the room, he saw Vexor standing with an armored warrior with bright pink hair. Surprisingly, there was no hint of brimstone in the air to set him off. He looked for a sacred candle and carefully sniffed for incense, but found neither. Throwing a questioning look at the cambion sorcerer, he received a smile back, while Vex tapped a new badge pinned to his vest. Joe had never seen him wearing anything like it before. The mage must have found an arcane solution to Joe's overactive aversion to the smell of the demonic. He nodded his thanks and finished his journey to where Mojo was getting mushings from Wen and Kenda.

Who is the guy with Vex?" he asked, as he reached the trio.

"That's his boyfriend, Kerrig. He's great. Defensive specialist. I've quested with him a bunch of times. You two would make a formidable front line," the elf replied.

"Good to know." Joe replied before turning to the pretty skill savant and uttering, "Hey." That simple syllable felt laced with meaning. And it seemed to be reciprocated.

"Hey, yourself," she shot back warmly. They ignored Wen's quiet chuckle at their slightly awkward greetings. "Where were you? Didn't you hear the guild bell ringing? And where's Hah'roo? I know Myllo was hoping she'd be here, too."

"Is that what that bell was? I heard a new bell tolling, but I had no idea what it meant. This city rings a lot of bells: hourly bells, harbor bells, church bells. Maybe you should add the guild bell to your orientation for new members."

"They tried that a while back," a gruff voice interjected. Joe looked over to see Edror, the old monster hunter, standing a few feet away. As usual, he was dressed like a fantasy version of a crocodile hunter, wearing his broad-brimmed hat with a row of teeth tucked into the band and his well-patched suit of armor that was a mishmash of hide, plate, and scales. "Every time we got a new guilder, they'd ring that blasted thing. Did they warn us? Course not; the damn bell is the warning. I had an Emerald Venom King in my sights one day, and I let it get away answerin' some greenhorn's introduction to the guild. They gave up on the false alarms for new folks a bit before Kendell here signed on."

"That makes sense," she conceded. "Let's see who else don't you know. Well, that's Nard," she stated, pointing to the huge hulking figure sitting against the wall. "He's our groundskeeper."

Nard was not just a fomorian, the race with an ogre heritage. He was a full-fledged ogre. He had warty, greenish skin, spiky, black hair, and an oversized nose. He was powerfully built, with wrists thicker than Joe's thighs. He had a trowel tucked into his belt that could have worked as a battle axe for anyone else in the room. His only clothes were a set of brown overalls, and his big bare feet were stained even greener by the grass he cut.

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The brutish gardener must have sensed the attention on him. He looked in their direction and waved tentatively. Kenda gave a much larger wave back, which caused the troll to smile, exposing sets of crooked teeth, each larger than a hockey puck.

"And the guilder with Tezeno there is Isais," the skill savant continued.

Joe looked over at the woman talking at the archon. Not with, at. Tezeno stood silently bearing the girl's jabber; his mouth was set in a fixed grim line.

Isais was an elf and an archer, but that is where her similarities to Joe's friend ended. Wen was all about functional practicality. She had quality gear, but it was designed to help her stealthing skills, meaning it was all tinted with browns and greens and had minimal ornamentation. Isais, on the other hand, was audaciously dressed in elaborately embellished leather armor. Jewelry dripped off her everywhere: ears, wrists, neck, waist, ankles, fingers, all topped by a golden tiara. The quiver she wore across her back was ornately tooled and far longer than Joe would expect. It ran diagonally all the way from her left hip to her right shoulder.

"She is an amazing long-distance sniper, but she has all these passive charm traits," Kendell explained. "She is always bludgeoning people for little favors with her influence. Sometimes, I'm not even sure she realizes she's doing it. Other times, it's painfully blatant. I have to admit, she drives almost everyone in the guild a little nuts."

"A little?" Wen rebutted. "As pleasant as weaving with thorns."

"Great," Joe groaned, even though he was pretty sure that was a new dadism from his elven friend. He had very little tolerance for choosing beggars. Figuring he'd avoid her as much as possible, Joe looked for more new faces. "Who's the little mousling woman with Myllo and Puqmup?"

"That's Taylyn," Kenda answered. "She's a sweetheart. Her base class is grenadier. She creates explosives with plant-based objects such as nuts or seeds.

"She's a bit of a worrier," Wen added. "But then again, I guess anyone might be if their specialty were making things explode. 'Caution is an old man's friend,' as my father always says."

"That one," the elf added, indicating the man standing in the dead middle of the room, "is the douche-noggle we discussed. That's Lexaroth."

"The warlock?" Joe whispered back. "Yeah, we've met. I fully agree with you. One-hundred percent."

"Douche-noggle?" Kenda prompted. "Where did you get that expression?"

Earcellwen chuckled and tipped her chin at Joe.

"To be fair, it is surprisingly fitting," Kendell observed. "Tezeno and I have run out of people to pair him with. He's just such a … you know, douche-noggle works better than anything else I can think of." She looked around the room. "That is Ambassador Kiinim. He is the emissary from Cazmaloq."

The man looked fierce. His eyes glowed red, and a crest of horns rose from his temples. Much like how Hah'roo draped her rope-dart, Ambassador Kiinim had a heavy metal chain hanging in loops around his body. It ended in a heavy triangle that looked like the tip of a dragon's tail. Even though he was wearing full plate mail, the draconic warrior moved with a light, smooth grace.

As Joe studied the scaled warrior, he realized that there was someone else standing beyond the armored emissary. The figure was slightly taller than a gnome, dressed in rags and a shabby-looking cowled cloak. Joe could see nothing of his actual body except a pair of faintly glowing eyes within the hood. His ragged apparel, with its nondescript grays and browns, caused him to almost blend into the wall.

Nodding his head towards the skid-row-jawa, he asked, "Who's that guy?"

"Oh. That's Yuk," the trainer supplied. "They're a good guy, but painfully shy. I've never seen their face, even though I've known them for years. They almost always work alone. Vermin are their specialty." As if to punctuate her words, Joe saw several insects skitter across the frayed robes and vanish into the folds.

"I helped them out once," Wen noted.

"Right," Kenda pronounced. "The McDerron's Farm and the horrid corbies."

"Yeah. Yuk's swarms are brutal. They probably could have done the whole quest without me if the corbies didn't keep flying off." Seeing Joe's confused looks, the archer explained. "Sorry. Corbies are monstrous, crow-like humanoids. Yuk could dispatch the monsters without really taking any damage, but they lack long-range attacks to pick off those that were retreating."

"I was going to send Isais with them," Kenda mentioned, "but she won't work with Yuk. Bugs freak her out."

"Of course they do," Earcellwen scoffed. As the ranger was shaking her head, a gust of wind blew through the room, announcing the arrival of the last expected guild member. Hah'roo glided into the hall.

"My apologies, guild-leader. I was unaware of the meaning of the summoning clarion. Thankfully, my landlord was once a member of this guild. When he spotted me on the roof, conversing with the wild winds, he informed me of this mustering. I assume you are gathering regarding the fury building over the eastern ocean."

"Well met, Hah'roo. Exactly right," Myllo confirmed. "The Storm Wardens tried to turn it away, but I have been informed they are admitting defeat. There ain't no shoving that storm back out to sea. They are saying Fort Coral is about to be pounded by a bad one. Arch-Druid Awan Dawnsong is stating it's already epic, but he is predicting it could upgrade to a legendary event. Do you know more?" the short, shaggy-haired man asked in a harried-sounding voice.

"They are correct. It is too mighty for anyone less than a legend to divert. Unless the tempest changes its mind for some reason, it will be here with the morning tide. Right now, it is still enjoying itself in the deep waters, plumbing the ocean for more might." Hah'roo stepped up to the map on the wall and placed a white finger on a spot in the ocean, which she twirled in a lazy circle. "Unless someone does something foolhardy that will provoke it, you have this night to prepare."

"Do you think it will get much stronger?" the korrigan queried, looking at Hah'roo with a worried measure of hope.

"It will almost surely be a legendary storm by morn, but it will not reach mythic levels, if that is what you are asking."

Myllo's hopeful expression fell away. "Gods no. I was hoping you would tell me it would stay epic."

"That I cannot," she stated with a shrug. "This storm-beast will surely name itself and be remembered for generations."