The first thing Raith noticed about Old Valen was the smell. A suboptimal sewer system mixed with piles of refuse in the alleys to create an odor that made him want to turn right back around and leave. Woeful had not been exaggerating. This city was obviously much poorer than Beckhaven.
The buildings themselves were in moderate repair, but worn around the edges with most signs in desperate need of new paint. His improved vision helped him notice a street rat pilfer the money pouch of a passerby then duck down an alley. He resolved to keep a close eye on his pouches.
Raith realized he had stopped to gawk while the rest of his team continued down the road and hurried to catch up. The Boxes dominated the center of the city, with everything else laid out in more or less consistent grids around them. This main road was heading straight towards the center Box, but a few blocks before they got there Tolliver took a right down another busy road.
They arrived at a three story, standalone structure that looked more like a regular inn than the grandiose design of their guildhall back home. It was still a nice building, and the wide front porch had a few visitors lounging in the shade to avoid the early afternoon heat. They gave a nod as the team entered, and the doorman stopped them only a moment to check their badges.
Inside felt more familiar. Several tables held adventuring teams, eating lunch and eagerly discussing their next [Quests]. A Wall of Paragons behind the bar showed the local heroes, and trophies of vanquished beasts lined the walls.
Tolliver stopped his confident lead the moment they entered the building.
“I have not been in here before.”
Raith waved them forward and strode towards the back room, which should be where [Quests] were handed out and rewarded. There was no one at the handful of tables this time of day, and the building lacked the private rooms and library found in Beckhaven’s guildhall.
Behind the counter next to the announcement boards was a kobold, of all things. The small reptilian creature had dark red scales, a pair of glasses perched on the end of its long snout, and was contentedly reading a book with its feet up on the counter.
It wasn’t that kobolds were forbidden in Beckhaven or anything. He’d just never actually seen one there. Kobold broods were rare in this part of the continent, usually only around to attach themselves to a dragon and worship it like a god. The majority lived a nomadic life ruling the deserts far to the southeast and were not especially friendly towards smooth skins.
“Are you lot just going to stand there with your mouths open or are you coming in?”
Its voice was high and melodic, and Raith had no idea if it was male or female. He also realized they had all just been staring like assholes.
“Sorry. Yes, of course.”
As a group, the team approached the kobold, who had set down their book and was peering at them over the top of their spectacles.
“We’re the Myth Seekers, and we would like to pick up a [Quest] reward. I would also like three rooms, please. Do I do that here?”
Raith looked back towards the other room, wondering if he’d already made another faux pas and he was supposed to pay for rooms back there. The kobold jumped up, clearly standing on a box or something behind the bar.
“Did you say the Myth Seekers?”
It pulled out a notebook from under the counter and paged quickly to the middle, following the lines with a finger as it read. It stopped after finding what it was looking for, then looking up sharply.
“Captain Raith Quirric?”
“Uh, yes. That’s me.”
He offered an awkward smile, but the kobold ignored him and jumped down from the box to run out from behind the counter and into the other room. Raith looked to his friends, who shrugged helplessly. That high voice rang out from the other room.
“Guildmaster Drannon! I’ve got the Myth Seekers down here. The ones who cured the Grins!”
Mutters of surprise and the scraping of chairs came a moment later. Nyhm frowned.
“Shit.”
All of the adventurers who had been eating their lunch piled in to the back room, clapping backs and offering words of appreciation. After so long away from the city, Raith immediately began feeling claustrophobic in the pressing crowd. From the expressions his friends wore, he wasn’t alone in that.
“Amazing work. You should all be proud.”
“My aunt and uncle died to the Grins. You’ve done the world a great service.”
“Is it true you got infected and ate one of your teammates?”
Raith tried to see who said that last, but there were too many people talking at once.
“No! I mean, I did get infected…”
“Are you the same Raith who was imprisoned for the crime of knowledge?”
What the threaded fuck?
He whirled again to find the speaker, but a bellow from the doorway shut down all conversation.
“Back off!”
The crowd parted to reveal a mountain of a man with long, gray-streaked red hair. He had a huge bulbous nose and pock scarred face, but the smile lines around his eyes took the edge off what would otherwise be a terrifying man.
The capitol in the north favored full beards, while his home of Beckhaven preferred a clean-shaven look. Old Valen seemed to love their mustaches, and this man’s was prize winning. It was thick and solid red, showing none of the gray from his head. The hair traced past the sides of his mouth, down his chin and fell in braids another ten inches beyond to the center of his chest.
Raith stared at it in awe for a moment before the koblod scurried out from behind the large man and resumed its place behind the counter. ?“Thank you Brint,” he said, nodding at the kobold. He swept his gaze across the rest of the crowd. “You lot should know better. These adventurers just got in from the field. Haven’t had a meal or a shower. Weaver’s only know what they’ve been through. When they’re ready, they’ll come down and you can all bribe the stories out of them with booze. Until then, leave them be and go finish your lunch.”
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Most of the group looked embarrassed, and they all wandered back into the other room with muttered apologies. The big man now turned to Raith and his team.
“Sorry about them. I’m Guildmaster Drannon. Why don’t we take this conversation to my office?”
Drannon’s office was quite a bit smaller and more cluttered than Senora’s, but there was still a long conference table with the tracking map above it, and a couple of chairs sitting in front a paperwork-covered desk. The team settled in around the table while Drannon collected up some documents before sitting down to join them.
“Alright, it looks like you are each owed five thousand gold for completing the [Quest]. After the Guild’s percentage, that’s 4500 gold each.”
Raith had forgotten about the guild cut and winced, but reminded himself that even after the fee it was more than he’d ever had at one time. The Guildmaster looked up from the papers.
“Do you have any magical items to report?”
He eyed them suspiciously, lingering on the magical gear long enough to make Raith wonder if he had an item to detect them.
“Nothing related to this [Quest].”
Drannon seemed to accept that, gave a nod and went on.
“Very well. I want you to know we appreciate the honor your team has brought to the Guild.” He fished four silver badges out of a pouch and handed them out. “The Myth Seekers are officially promoted to silver rank. The teams out there will want to congratulate you for that, too, when you feel up to it. There may be a bit of hazing, but it is all in good fun.”
Raith already felt undeserving of the levels he received from the [Quest], although he was more than happy to have them. But all of this praise was too much.
“Sir, this attention is very embarrassing. My teammates did all the work while I just laid there for two weeks.”
Tolliver spoke up before anyone else had a chance.
“You quite nearly died and went through weeks of unimaginable suffering, which served as the catalyst to push this cure over the finish line. It was a team effort, not just by the Myth Seekers but by The Temple of Mirrored Clouds and the Loremasters. And, lest we forget her sacrifice, the Rootmother and her conclave. Everyone played their role, and I dare say the price you payed was higher than most.”
Raith blushed and wanted to object, but the noble had a point. Sort of. It still didn’t feel right to be thanked for it. The Guildmaster nodded at Tolliver with approval.
“Listen to your friend here, young man. It’s rare for us adventurers to bleed for so noble a cause. Take the good with the bad, ‘cause they’ll be plenty of bad you can be sure. And when the hard times come, they’ll feel far more unfair than this ever could.”
A knock on the door put off any further discussion of the issue.
“Come in.”
Raith thought it was Brint at first, but this kobold’s scale color was a lighter red. They may have been a little taller too, but he was less sure about that. It had two burlap sacks in each hand and seemed to be struggling a bit under the weight. They heaved them up onto the table with a clank, then walked back out.
“Four hundred and fifty platinum each. Do you all have accounts at MerScales?”
Tolliver and Thea nodded, but the brothers did not.
“I highly encourage you to get one and put that money into their care. Do not leave that bag in your room unattended. And under no circumstances should you wander around the city with it after dark. We have a decent enough guard force here, but they can’t be everywhere at once.”
He tapped his chin thoughtfully while the team tried to process the fact that they were now rich and silver ranked adventurers.
“I feel like I’m forgetting something. Do you all have any questions?”
“Are there a lot of kobolds in this city?”
Drannon glanced towards the door where the last one had exited and frowned.
“A few, yes. Their brood ran the plains, and was decimated by a rival bugbear tribe several years ago. Lord Bandamar offered them refuge in our city. They have been excellent citizens, and I won’t tolerate their abuse.”
Raith realized how his question must have sounded and quickly backtracked.
“I would never, sir. I was just curious.”
The Guildmaster raised a bushy eyebrow, but let it go.
“How long do you intend to stay in Old Valen? I’ll provide rooms for tonight on the house, but if you want to stay longer you’ll have to pay.”
“We were planning on heading to Janekstown as soon as possible. Maybe tomorrow or the next day?”
He looked around at his teammates questioningly. Thea nodded.
“Agreed. It’s only two days on an easy road. I don’t want to get too comfortable here.”
The guildmaster slapped the table with a meaty thwack, causing everyone to jump.
“Excellent plan. Spend a few weeks tower climbing with a warm bed to come back to afterwards. May I also recommend you wait till then to look for gear. Janekstown is the largest Guild hub in the kingdom, and the home base for a lot of adventurers. You’ll find a lot more options at better prices there.”
“I appreciate the advice, sir. If you don’t mind, I think we’d like to head to our rooms now.”
“Of course! If you all need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Again, congratulations on a [Quest]. Well done.”
Raith had been planning on sharing a room with his brother to save money, but they were each provided with their own rooms and he was thankful. It was nice to have a moment to himself, and the building was quiet this time of day.
He took off his shoes, lay back on the comfortable bed, closed his eyes and just relaxed.
“You have bound yourself ever more tightly to my realm, yet you have been avoiding it.”
Raith’s eyes shot open, and he sat to find himself on the couch in his library.
“How am I here? I didn’t activate the [Skill].”
“This is not the Weaver’s work, but my demesne. I have chosen this appearance for your comfort.”
Everything shimmered, and Raith found himself sitting on a log instead of his couch. A field of sunflowers stretched out before him on a bright spring day. The high, wispy clouds were a rainbow of pastel colors. Bees darted between the bright yellow petals, but on closer look they weren’t bees at all, but little faeries. And the sunflowers had faces that lazily turned towards him with dopey smiles as he gasped in surprise.
“Perhaps you would prefer this?”
“No, the library is fine.”
And suddenly they were back.
“Why do you avoid the dreaming, child?”
Raith shifted uncomfortably.
“I’ve been having nightmares ever since…”
“I see. And I am pleased you have survived your ordeal, although it seems to have pushed you closer to my sister’s domain. She already had her eye on you after your visit to her tower. Fear not, I will speak with her. You need worry no longer about these nightmares, but governing yourself within this realm is a skill you must learn.”
“How do I do that? [Skills]?”
“The Weaver’s Gifts might assist you, but are insufficient for the task. There are few of your kind who might help, as this knowledge has largely been lost to mortals.”
“Who then?”
“The true fae, whose realm overlaps with my own, possess the most prowess by far. It is perhaps not the preferred route, as I understand that mortals sometimes have…challenges…bargaining with the fae."
“But the fae haven’t been seen outside the Fae Wilds for centuries.”
“The time of the devoured moon has passed, and their power waxes anew. Indeed, I fear you may have already attracted their attention.”
Great. That’s all I need right now.
Amaris chuckled as though she could hear his thoughts and continued.
“Amongst all of mortalkind, my greatest dreamers have ever been the gnomes.”
Raith could feel the fondness in her voice at these last words and was surprised to be struck by pangs of jealousy. Shaking it off, he worried that finding a gnome to learn from may prove challenging. While the curious gnomes could be found virtually everywhere, their cities and greatest scholars were far across the sea on a continent shared with the corvids.
“But it would take months of travel to even get to Elendria.”
“Your path is your own to choose, little dreamer. The Weavers made certain of that. I merely suggest that you begin seeking the wisdom you will require to flourish on this path you have bound yourself to.”
“Can you give me a name? A book? Anything?”
A warm chuckle washed over him.
“Good luck, child. We shall speak again soon enough.”
Someone was shaking his shoulder.
“Raith, wake up.”
He opened his eyes, and Nyhm stood above him with a small frown of concern.
“Are you alright?”
Raith sat up and shook his head to clear the cobwebs.
“Yeah, I’m ok.”
The elfling’s frown turned into a smile.
“Good, grab your money. We’re all headed to the bank.”
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