“None of my business,” she replied, moving some of the vine-hair behind her ear. “She wants to talk. I don’t ask questions—I follow orders.”
Kryos looked at both Bert and his son, Bert Junior, and the two men glanced at each other. The elder Bert and owner of the smithy said, “Best not to keep the woman waiting. She holds a lot of sway over this town.”
“Well then,” Kryos replied as he looked at the guard who had a face that screamed ‘stop wasting my time’, “let’s go.”
The woman turned and guided Kryos toward the center of town. He made sure to sling his new shield over his shoulder, and felt it clatter against his back as the chitin improvement made it a bit wider. Hopefully, that meant it could also stand up to more punishment and he wouldn’t have his barrier crushed again while blocking a strike.
The half-dryad guard led him to the town square. People had begun to set up tables and gather to mingle, talk, exchange stories, set out food and drink, and engage in general camaraderie. All of that ceased when Kryos and his escort walked out of a side-street and along the front of the hospital toward the building he assumed was the city hall. Kryos glanced at the gathered folk and saw them all watching him.
Well . . . I guess I ought to do something, Kryos thought.
He raised a hand, making sure his claws were retracted, and waved as he tried to give his best, disarming smile he could. Immediately, whispers and mutterings exploded, overlapping, and he kept following the guard as he faced her back and let his arm fall down to his side.
Hopefully that was the right play.
The half-dryad woman opened the door to the two-story building and Kryos had to bend his knees as he went through the door frame to prevent his horns from getting caught. The entry room had a bench on one side and a series of portraits hung from the wall on the other. Each one depicted a mayor of the town in a simple oil painting: two had served prior to the current one, who Kryos recognized from her short visit to him in the hospital.
The guard took him to a staircase that doubled back on itself, and then down a hall to a closed door. She stood aside and held out her hand. “Mace stays here.”
Kryos slid it out of his belt loop and handed it to her. Then, the woman leaned over and opened the door.
The mayor’s office had a large window that overlooked the town square. Her desk faced that window, and her back was to Kryos as she sat on a raised chair, scribbling. “That’ll be all, Tenella. Enter, half-dragon.”
Kryos took a few steps in and spotted a chair to the left. He sat down as best he could, but it was fairly small and he elected to stand instead. “You wanted to see me?” He took in the walls, which were covered in maps of the mines and town, with marked out plots of land for the latter, and on the ground along the walls, stacked three high, were several lockboxes. His treasure sense was ticking off towards those very strongly, but he pushed it down deep.
The mayor turned in her chair. Beatrice Vertila, Kryos recalled the name, was a short, squat woman with a bald head and well-maintained, pleated beard. She had a set of robes on, and set down a gravity-fed ink pen in a holder as she faced him. “No seat?”
Kryos glanced back at it. “I’m a bit big for it.”
She cracked a small smile. “A blessing for an Adventurer, I’d wager.” She glanced at the window. “You caused a bit of a stir in town since your arrival.”
“I’ve noticed,” Kryos replied as he took a step closer and peered through the glass pane. He could see the crowd had separated into different groups around tables, and while there was jovial conversation, there was also quieter talk, and plenty glances cast up at the building where he was standing.
Beatrice sighed and looked back to him. She crossed her hands over her lap. “First off, word of your deed in the mine spread. As you probably can tell, your presence has caused a bit of a mixed response. Some people are grateful, some believe your kind are horrid monsters and would rather see you gone—or worse—and some are ambivalent.”
Kryos winced at the middle response she had couched in there. “You’re saying some folks wish me ill will?”
She nodded curtly. “Hence why I advised you to join the Irontrail outside of Suncrest.” She gestured to the window with a broad sweep of her arm. “I know this town, I know its people, and I know how to listen to the gossip. It’s why I have been elected six terms in a row.” She cleared her throat, and her voice took on an authoritative tone. “On behalf of the city of Suncrest, I want to formally thank you for your services to Suncrest. Word of a Rift closure was reported through the Quest Conclave via the Hearthguard, and it was also stated that you, Leona Bitterbrine, and an unfortunate Mender who did not survive cleared it.”
Kryos looked down at the ground at the mention of Tavan. “That is correct. Leona and I made it out.”
“Condolences, but you are in a risky line of work.” She let out a little sigh and dropped the formal tone. “My sympathies. Regardless, your work in three days—the mine incident and immediately responding to a Rift—shows me you want to prove yourself an asset to Suncrest. There may be those who view you as a liability or even harmful . . . but I see potential.”
Kryos looked up and met her eyes. There was a calculating intellect behind them, just like the psionic wyrmlings who he occasionally met in the Drakemount and had interesting conversations with, as they were not fueled by bestial instincts alone despite their young age. She was crafty, but he also knew this was a way for him to gain a reputation—which would lead to more opportunities. And opportunities meant more chances to gain wealth.
Kryos smiled. “I am glad my efforts aren’t going unnoticed.”
“Just be aware, Suncrest has rules, and heroics don’t exempt anyone from them.” She tapped the desk a few times. “You’ve not broken any laws, and that is good, but with people who do not like you, well, they may report you as a lawbreaker which will require investigation. Keep yourself out of trouble so you don’t give any false accusations real justification.”
Kryos crossed his arms and relaxed his posture. He nodded in acknowledgement.
“Excellent. I figured you weren’t some dumb brute since I met you. Now!” Beatrice turned back to her desk, opened up a drawer, and pulled out a sheet of paper. Then, she got off her chair and walked over to a wall. “Come over here.”
Kryos did so, and she grabbed a wooden stick with a pointed tip, tapping part of the map. “This part of the silver mines is called Falkrether’s Demise. Highpeak wants a new survey route mapped. The issue that has come up is that the miners who have headed that way spotted monsters in the tunnels.”
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Why ask for me?” Kryos asked.
She glanced up at him, and he looked down at her. “I figured I’d offer you the Quest first, since you were such a capable fighter in the dark. It’s routine civic protection work that I would normally post to a Quest Board directly, but I think you’re suited to the task with your abilities. Plus, you have rapport with them.”
Kryos uncrossed his arms and traced the mine tunnel to the entrance, then back over to where the main shaft was currently plotted out. “What happened there?”
She grimaced and put the wooden poking stick down. “A miner named Falkrether died there. A company specialist detected massive silver ore veins, and expansions began that way. Well, the miners broke through a wall and revealed a huge chasm with an unknown depth and distance. Falkrether fell and vanished into the dark. Hence, the name. The walls were peeled away, and a good couple-hundred feet down from the tunnel, there’s the veins.”
Kryos frowned. “Why not just dig straight down?”
“Well, the vein isn’t directly below in the wall; it’s on a slant which would take years to get to. The best way at it is going down the wall of the chasm.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Kryos muttered.
Beatrice handed him a slip of paper. “Just take this to your Guild Hall, put it on the board, then grab it to take the Quest. All you’d be doing is taking a surveyor back down the tunnel leading to that branch to re-survey the area. Again, there’s monsters down there now, so you’re just clearing them out and protecting the miners accompanying the surveyor.”
Kryos gripped the paper. “What’s it pay?”
“Four gold.”
That’s a lot of money, Kryos thought. A hefty sum for just escorting some people and fighting cave-dwelling monsters? If it’s those sucker-tentacle ones, I know how to fight them and am far better equipped now. Plus, I’ll have Leona with me. Sure, this seems like a good deal.
“Sounds good. I’ve got a Party member, so it won’t just be me.”
That seemed to catch Beatrice off guard for a moment, then she recovered with a small smile. “Ah, good for you. Making friends already. Well, thank you for coming by. Best of luck. They’ll expect you at the mine entrance tomorrow morning.”
Kryos dipped his head in a bow and headed to the door, opened it, and had to keep his head ducked to get out of the door frame. The guard handed him his mace, and he looped it through his belt. “Am I allowed to depart alone, or do you need to escort me again?”
The half-dryad barely looked at him. “Whatever you’ll do, just don’t cause trouble.”
Kryos headed down the stairs, and as he entered the lobby, spotted the mine foreman, Trork, sitting on the bench. “Oh, hi there,” Kryos said.
The black-skinned, red-eyed man stood up. “Kryos. Good to see you. I heard about the Rift.”
Kryos grimaced at that. “Ah . . . yeah . . .”
“I didn’t mean offense,” Trork quickly said. “Things happen in the Adventuring life.” He glanced at the slip in Kryos’ hand. “So, she got to you, eh?”
Kryos glanced down. “What do you mean? It’s just a Quest.”
Trork let out a short laugh. “Yeah, sure. Listen, anything she offers serves someone. Going to clear out the monsters before Falkrether’s Demise?”
“Yeah,” Kryos replied. “I’m guessing you’re against it?”
He frowned. “That area is dangerous. Lucrative, sure, but dangerous. We need more safety reviews.” He shrugged. “Clearing monsters and re-surveying is foreshadowing the company pushing us to mine there.”
Kryos tapped his foot a few times. “I think I get it.”
Trork gave him a curt nod, then held up a sheaf of papers. “I have some documents to get signed, if you’ll excuse me.” He stepped past Kryos and went up the stairs.
Kryos headed out of the town hall, and went along the front of the hospital once more. The town square quieted slightly as he came into view, but he didn’t pay much attention as he went through the mayor and miner’s union leader’s words and mulled them over on his walk out of town.
It seems like the company is going to make a push for that dangerous section of the mine to open up to get to the rich ore veins, he thought. It seems like Trork is against it unless there’s a lot more safety measures put in place.
He shrugged and put the quest slip into one of the potion pouches on the front of his bag. Escorting some people and killing monsters wasn’t that difficult. There wasn’t any harm in making the way clear for some of Trork’s safety people to check out the area to try and make it a bit safer to access. And, the pay for clearing the way for the surveyor was going to be a nice addition to his hoard.
As he passed by a sweet-smelling building, he paused, and lingered for a moment. The scent reminded him of one of the meals his mom cooked in the Drakemount, and he stopped by an open window that faced the street. A woman was inside, tending to an oven, and placing pastries of some sort onto a shelf facing him. A few children with copper coins were waiting for the fresh delights to be placed down for purchase.
For a moment, he thought about spending a silver to pay for the children’s sweet snack, and get a pastry for himself, and one for Leona—but the moment that thought came into his mind, that heat roiled in his gut. The visceral disgust at parting with his hoard seared at his insides, and he wandered toward the edge of town.
He reached the Guild Hall by nightfall, and upon entering, saw that the room was fairly empty. Pavish, Leona, and two other Adventurers were at a pair of tables that had been shoved together.
“Where is everyone?” Kryos asked.
“An Abyss,” Pavish replied. “Biggest type of Rift. They’ll probably be gone for a few days. Those ones have a lot of Chambers, and often are a multi-day affair.”
Leona looked him up and down. “New shield? And where’s your new sword?”
Kryos pulled the shield off of his back and set it on the ground next to the door. “It is a new shield. The sword is in my bag. It’s . . . weird to explain, but if I don’t swing it just right, it doesn’t really hit well. I like a mace better. I just have to swing it and as long as I hit, it’ll hurt.”
Pavish chuckled and shook his head. “Well, you could always sell it.”
“Never!” Kryos angrily snapped. He frowned then turned away and went to the Quest Board. He pulled the slip out of the pouch, put it to the Board, and it merged with the surface. “Now how do I do this?” he mumbled.
Leona suddenly appeared next to him, and he almost jumped when she spoke. “Got a Quest?”
“Yeah, the mayor had a special one.”
Leona nodded. “Seems easy enough. Monsters in the mines? That’s pretty routine. The pay is good, too.” She raised her forearm. “Just hold your forearm to it, and say, ‘I accept this Quest’.”
Kryos did as she instructed, and the moment the words left his lips, the slip of paper that was seemingly embedded in the board became an outline: still visible but partially gone and ghostly. Then, under the Irontrail Guild Hall name, golden text appeared that said, MAYOR’S MINE QUEST, and beneath that, an outline of a golden rectangle. He glanced sideways and saw that Leona had the same tattoo. “What’s this about?”
“This is how the Quest is tracked,” she replied. “If you die, the Quest returns to the Board so anyone can claim it. As you finish the Quest’s objectives, this fills up—don’t ask me how the magic works, I have no idea. When the Quest is done, the whole tattoo glows white. Then, to finish the job, you just touch your tattoo to any Quest Board across the world, and your reward gets spit out.”
She pointed to the podium across the hallway. “The Quest Conclave gets their cut automatically, which is ten percent, but the Guild Hall doesn’t. So make sure you take out another ten percent cut.”
Kryos felt dismay at that. “So already we’re out twenty percent? Converting that to silver for easier math, that’s eight silver gone. We each only get sixteen? That’s barely anything compared to a Rift!”
Leona let out a wry laugh at that. “Yeah, I know, it sucks.” She then let the mirth subside and crossed her arms. “We get Experience, which is the upside.”
“Yeah, you do,” Kryos muttered under his breath. Then, he froze.
Leona blinked a few times. “Sorry?”