NOVEL NEXT Chapter Ninety-One: Questgiver
Questgiver
Sleeping quarters were tight that night. It was either sleeping three to a- admittedly large- bed, or going back to camping outside. Most of us chose the illusion of safety indoors, but with my ability at least I didn't have to share a bed with anyone. Instead I slept in a wardrobe in the room shared by Zack and Arnold, with Hannah standing immobile, watching over us all. I woke up first, and, as usual, felt better than ever waking up in a pose that should have left me sore and uncomfortable. Hannah nodded at me, but I didn't want to wake the others, nor did I want to spend more time sleeping, especially with how loud Zack was snoring, and so I quietly left the room and went downstairs.
In the dining hall there was Gromshnag and a few of the Guild already gathered, eating and drinking breakfast foods. Artemis in particular was in deep conversation with Gromshnag, and had a notebook and pen in front of her, asking him questions, which he answered with none of the heightened voice of yesterday. No one else I was close to was down yet, and I was curious and so I sat next to Artemis.
"What's up?" I said.
"Been thinking. The whole hag situation shouldn't have happened," she said.
"It was nobody's fault but Xem's," I said.
"Sure, I'm not blaming us, or myself. But it could have been avoided if we were stronger," Artemis said.
"So what have you two been talking about," I said.
"Beginner quests, more or less," Gromshnag said.
"That's not really enough information for me to infer what you mean," I said.
"The inn is a safe zone. So it would be an excellent place to headquarter the Guild, at least temporarily. I've been asking Mr. Gromshnag about the environment nearby," Artemis said.
"It's rough, I won't lie, but it will get rougher closer to the mountains. There's monsters everywhere, but if the mines were acquired by the people I've heard they've been acquired by it could be a problem," Gromshnag said.
"Who is it?" I said.
"If it is who they say it is, I am not going to speak ill of them, or speak of them at all. And if it isn't then you wouldn't get much use of me talking, would ya?" Gromshnag said. He shrugged, and went behind the counter, returning a half a minute later with a beer-stein sized mug of coffee and a plate with bread, butter and assorted breakfast proteins on it.
"He's been like this the whole morning," Artemis said, "But your information about the monsters nearby has been useful. I was mostly worried about intelligent, organized enemies- we have numbers, if we're careful we can go up against higher levels, so long as they don't have the intelligence to set up traps and tactics."
"Dire wolves can be plenty cunning. And if you piss off a werebear that is entirely on you," Gromshnag said.
"So you're scrapping the mountain plan?" I said.
"I'm not scrapping anything, because I'm not in charge. That said, three quarters of the Guild could really use the training, and the rest aren't exactly overpowered. Except maybe you and Hannah," Artemis said.
"So you want to bring this up in the meeting tonight?" I said.
"Just as soon as everyone's awake. It's not just that. My core abilities aren't being used. At my current level I can give out quests that generate tons of experience, magic items, temporary buffs. If I don't know what the dangers are, I'm just a smart gal with a hell of a left hook," Artemis said.
"Still in my head, still a whiny bitch, but I'm getting used to it. As far as I can tell, my best bet is still getting levels and dumping points in Willpower. Which I would do anyways," Artemis said.
"It's not a bad plan, but it would mean me leaving you for a while. Maybe a week. Anna will probably want to come too," I said.
"It's not another Tower quest suicide mission, is it?" Artemis said.
"No, I scried on a friend of mine, back from Earth. He's in here, and we've figured out a way to meet," I said.
"What is it?" Artemis said.
I briefly told her about Will and the dungeon by the mountains.
"Alright, but let me give you quests for it first. It's really been a waste for you to not talk these things through with me. If I give you a task, you get rewarded, even if it is a task you brought to me in the first place," she said, and I agreed, "Alright, let me just word this properly."
She wrote in her Journal, and a few seconds later scratching came from my own. I flipped over to Quests and found two new ones.
Quests
Find a Path to the Mountains
Reach the Mountains to the West and make notes about the dangers there and on the route. Gather information on monsters, local terrain and any special features. Deliver this information to the Guildmaster.
Reward: Bonus Experience, progress in Cartography skill
Clear the Rock Toad Caverns
Complete the Rock Toad Caverns dungeon and report back to the Guildmaster.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Reward: Bonus Experience, magical item proportional to challenges faced
"Nice, thanks," I said.
"Literally my job. This time I think we'll be fine without you, you know. The Guild has really become something," Artemis said.
"All thanks to you. Listen, I'm going to stick around for another day. I need to set my teleport point to here, in case something goes wrong on either side. It's not like I can't talk to my friend again through the portal if I need to," I said.
It felt almost like a trick to get a break so soon after those three calm days of the hotel after the Halls. As I'd expected, almost everyone agreed to stay here for a while and train. The timeline seemed much more generous for the second challenge, and most people felt underpowered against the threats of this Forest. So we stayed in the inn and rested. But it was not like we weren't busy. With Gromshnag's permission and help Artemis set up a sort of a booth in the main dining hall, somewhat more formal than the school-desk set up she'd had back in the first challenge, and people started venturing out on their first quests.
Gromshnag had no issue with the Guild staying longer, especially since we could easily pay with the gold we'd got from the first challenge. Few of the Guild members were particularly stingy with the coins, since the only thing we could spend them on at the moment were food and shelter, which was indeed what they were being spent on, and so with the pooled money it was clear that they could stay in the Hanging Donkey for the entire duration of the challenge if they so chose.
Artemis started with scouting quests, much like she had back in the Halls. The first to return from their assigned quest was the scout group leader with his closest companions. They had found many dangerous beasts, but avoided engaging them, and brought back a quite well made map of the section around the inn that Artemis had asked for. They gained experience and even gold, as Artemis ability kicked in.
It was late in the afternoon when one of the groups returned, absolutely exhausted and dragging an injured party member behind them. Emma had been with them.
"Get Bjorn here, this one's got broken legs and his rest ability won't fix 'em. Out of healing pots," she yelled, then came over to where I was taking a break from studying by helping Artemis out with some of the admin work. That spreadsheet management skill coming in handy for the first time in the Tower.
The injured man got taken away by the healer and Emma came by to deliver the quest.
"I think we found one of them dungeons out there. Didn't fucking look like a fucking dungeon though," Emma said.
"Tell me more," Artemis said.
"It was like this hidden grove sort of thing. Like the woods stopped being natural like at one point, and started forming paths and shit. We wouldn't have known nothing, except Leeroy got kicked out, because there was supposed to only be five people in there, like the wonder twins said back in the log cabin," Emma said.
"So what happened then?" Artemis said.
"Tree monsters, like three steps from the entrance. If we'd been any deeper, we'd have been crushed. As is, only that poor bastard got his legs wrecked.
"Got the map?" Artemis said.
"Sure thing," Emma said and dropped a rolled up piece of parchment on the table. It wasn't as well made as some of the ones made by people with high cartography skills or survival-based classes, but it was clear enough.
"Quest complete, get some rest," Artemis said.
"You putting up a quest for the dungeon thing?" Emma said.
"Yeah, probably. How bad is it?" Artemis said.
"Archmage here probably could do it, in a good team with the right tactics and preparation," Emma said.
"Not the Archmage," I said.
"Alright, I'll put the quest up, level 15 minimum?" Artemis said.
"I'll get a team together, don't bother putting it on the board. Don't want some scrub getting killed in there," Emma said.
"Alright, quest direct to you, Emma, then," Artemis said.
And so on until the day was over. I didn't remember the exact hour when the cooldown of my Sentinel Everpresent Guardian ability would re-set, but I didn't want to head out in the middle of the night anyways. I sent a message to Will about our delay and didn't do much of use the whole day. I mean, I was helpful with the admin tasks, sure, but rescuing dozens of people from certain death a few times really shifts your perspective about what 'useful' means.
It was only when the first casualty that I was expecting all day didn't come that I felt something in my shoulders relax. Something was supposed to go wrong, but the day was over, everyone was back, and no more quests were going to happen this day. In all, the Guild had gained a total of 50 levels and several magic items by doing dozens and dozens of quests, designed by Artemis and myself to gather as much information about the local area, retrieve useful ingredients and, towards the later half of the day, kill some of the less dangerous enemies in certain numbers. We weren't quite to the point where we were asking people to bring back ten bear asses for a handful of copper, but it seemed like soon enough we really could start going out on those sort of grind quests that would be terribly boring in a video game or described in a book, but harrowing in real life-and-death combat.
The night too passed without event, and I set my teleport point to the main hall of the inn, as Artemis was setting up. Anna and I were packing our bags and getting ready to depart when there was a commotion outside. Loud voices of people were approaching the inn, and we were joined by Gromshnag as we set out to our journey and he went out to see if the arrivals were new guests or an issue to be resolved.
Outside there approached a group of fifty or so. These were clearly Earthlings, all of them clad in a mix of Earth casual wear and Tower loot. Indeed, they reminded me very much of both the Guild and the other two groups we'd left behind by the hotel. All but one of them- among them there stood a creature in the rough shape of a man, wrapped entirely in slightly seeping bandages, and covered in a gray wool cloak, so that only the skin around his lips and eyes should be visible, but he had no skin and so what could be seen was seeping, open flesh.
"Friend Alex," Adam said, "We have much to speak about."