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royalnovels-blog · 7 years

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PWE Chapter 217

Chapter 217: Adventurers Association Lin Le followed the blond haired little Mar’s advice and went to the nearby chamber of commerce. Their sign had a picture of a fist and a coin. He slowly entered. FrozenCloud went to the local division of the War God’s Temple. As for Ye Cang, he stood at the entrance to a treehouse, blinking his eyes. He turned to see the large buildings that Lin Le and FrozenCloud’s instructors lived at. The War God’s Temple was made entirely of marble, a single glance was enough to tell it was high-end. He then turned back and looked at the hole in the tree, it was even more shoddy than a haunted house. With a sigh, he slowly walked in. What amazed Ye Cang was that the inside was spacious. He then saw a few grandpas and grandmas sitting at a wooden table, playing boardgames. It reminded him of the senior’s activity center they use to frequent. He broke out in cold sweat and wanted to leave. I should just got the the mage’s association or War God’s Temple to see if I can change classes. Seeing them all look over at him, he rubbed his head, feeling embarrassed. “My bad, I’m at the wrong place…” At this time, a wrinkled hand pressed down on Ye Cang’s shoulder. Ye Cang turned and saw a kind looking granny. “Young man, mm~ you’re aptitude is good. Linda, bring him to get an ID…” “Umm… I’m really in the wrong place…” Ye Cang saw everyone smiling at him and tried to leave. At this time a tall and beautiful woman, wearing a cyan mantle with long white legs and long white hair, who looked both fairy like and sisterly, walked down the stairs. She had some birds chirping around her. Ye Cang gasped. This pointy eared beauty’s chest might even be an N!? Looks like I underestimated this place… The white haired elven woman and Ye Can sized each other up. However, she was checking his body while he was unable to tear his eyes away from her jiggling chest. “Welcome, this is the adventurers association. I’m the one in charge, Linda…” The white haired elven woman said indifferently. Then Linda introduced the elders to him. They were all retired members of the adventurers association. Bale, Ken, Esse, Carina, as well as the one who just spoke with him was Black Rock City’s Adventurers Association’s (Ranger’s Guild) branch manager - Ivy. Ye Cang snapped out of his daze and once again wanted to change classes. “Umm… I…” Linda interrupted him, “Come with me…” Linda brought the once again dazed Ye Cang to a room on the 2nd floor. The walls were covered in wanted posters, and mission postings. Linda explained the system to Ye Cang. These were separated into ranks. Once one has performed a certain amount of work for the association, one can start accepting better quests. Moreover, they were always being replaced. She then explained the ranks in the adventurers association (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Amethyst). The adventurers association was a neutral organization, specialized in gathering information, and performing various missions. Different from the assassins guild, the adventurers association accepted mainly quests to hunt dangerous creatures or solve unfathomable mysteries. After her explanation, Linda reached out, as quick as lightning, handing Ye Cang a medal, not letting him refuse. “Congratulations! You’ve become a member of the adventurers associations. Prestige - friendly…“ “……” To him, the system message sounded like ‘Congratulations! You’ve become a member of the senior’s activity center’. Ye Cang was immediately astonished. He felt like a tourist that had been scammed into joining a sketchy organization. “I know what you’re thinking. Uncle Bale and the others are like that now, but they were once renowned adventurers in Black Rock City, completing many S rank quests. They’ve even complete quests such as defending White Stone City from the Steel Empire. From now on, I’ll be your trainer…” Linda’s words pulled Ye Cang out of his despair. Since he’s already joined, then there’s probably nothing he can do. He took a look at the quests that he was qualified to take. As for this associations function, Ye Cang had no complaints. It was already pretty good that you could get some quests to kill bosses, but you really had to look for them. Most of the quests were things like ‘help Lily find her missing puppy’ or ‘the barber shop’s scissors outside the city’. Soon after, Linda passed on some skills to Ye Cang. He received 3 skills, 2 talents, as well as 2 talent points and 2 skillpoints. Adventurer’s Medal (Bronze): +3 All Attributes. Can view bronze rank quests. Hunter’s Mark (Rare - Beginner Level): Mark the target, allowing you to know its general location from a distance, and increases damage you deal to it by 5%. Cost: 3 mana, 10 energy. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Cloudwalk (Super Rare - Beginner Level): Activate to increase movement speed by 100% for 5 seconds. During this time, you are immune to physical attacks and can walk on liquids. Cost: none. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Triple Shot (Rare - Beginner Level): Shoot 3 arrows at a target, each dealing 85% damage. Cost: 20 energy. Cooldown: 7 seconds. (Automatically replaces double shot) Adventurer’s Essentials (Adventurer - Beginner Level): +9 Wisdom. Increases the chance you will be given a quest. Tactics - Rapid Withdrawal/Pursuit (Adventurer - Linda - Beginner Level): When leading a party, your party members gain +8% movement speed and +5 Attack Speed. Once activated, this bonus improves to +50% movement speed and +30 Attack Speed for 20 seconds. Cost: 30 energy. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Ye Cang felt like these skills were pretty good. Especially the Tactics skill and Cloudwalk. If they ever had to escape again like in the tomb, it would definitely be much simpler. Following Linda, who could now be considered his master, back to the first floor, he looked closely at what these once formidable but now retired members were playing. Eh~ Monopoly… Lele should have come here. His title of number one public enemy of all senior’s activity centers wasn’t just for show… “Ok, you’re now a member of the adventurer’s association. When you have time, come check out the mission postings. If you want a quest, just rip it off the board, and leave a signed message in it’s place. Remember to put my name as your trainer. Every month, I’ll have to send your completed missions to headquarters. Also, the association will take 20% of your reward. Work hard.” Linda said these meaningful and heartfelt words, then patted Ye Cang’s shoulder. Her actions sent waves through her lethal weapons, making Ye Cang nod his head obediently. He even waved to the friendly retired adventurers, then walked out before suddenly realizing, what just happened!? He just now registered Linda’s final words, looked at the sheepskin missions that had suddenly appeared in his hand, and broke out in cold sweat. Am I working for some company!? Doesn’t this mean that after I finish a mission, I have to split the rewards with her!? He sighed, Who told me to get such a trainer. I’m just an apprentice, and can only pretend to smile. Working in a virtual game really isn’t simple. Hah~ Previous Main menu Next Click to Post

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nariwalsh · 1 year

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A Knight in Cloudwalkers

Olisha stood silently in the hall of of Cloudwalkers’ guild, contemplating the mail that had just reached her hands. Many parchments had passed through her grasp as guild leader, but this particular one was of interest.

"Oh, we have mail?" Arienna's wee voice broke the Teir'Dal from her thoughts. She glanced down at her fae comrade with a nod.

"Yeah, doesn't say who it's from but I'll find out soon enough." Olisha worked at the parchment and broke the wax seal. What she didn't tell her tiny ally was that she recognized said seal's symbol.

She unfolded the parchment within, noting its quality. Whomever sent this meant business. She finally read aloud, "Olisha N'Vasvor. I am requesting a meeting regarding a possible membership to your guild. If permissible, you may find me at The Basilisk's Lair in Freeport on the day of Windday the 3rd. Green cloak and hood, green wooden mask. Regards - gods I can't make this out. Fuck Sathirian. Sargon Val- Var- Varsi- oh shit!"

"What is it?" Arienna's brows knit together in worry, and her wings fluttered with her nervousness.

"Varsiss! Like Athenia and Isella Varsiss! They actually have a brother, but what are the odds this is them?" Olisha poked at the paper. It was no wonder the seal was familiar; The two she had mentioned had been guild members for quite some time, but their third living sibling had been absent from their lives.

"Only one way to find out. Well, perhaps there's multiple ways this time, but I am meaning to say you should ask those two!" Arienna frantically gestured.

Olisha smirked. Fae were so amusing. "I will do exactly that."

~*~

Isella and Athenia sat together on the couch in front of the hall's large hearth. Their expressions ranged from bewilderment to concern looking over the letter.

"This is him, for ccertain." Isella remarked as she held the parchment with her left hand.

"Doessss he… even know we are here?" Athenia's nose twitched as she nervously stared at the object held by her elder sister.

“No,” Isella sighed putting her hands and the letter into her lap, “he would have sssaid sssomething if he did.”

“I’m noticing you two look uh, concerned. Is this bad, him writing us?” Olisha’s gaze fluttered back and forth between theirs.

“Sargon iss… hsss.” Athenia closed her mouth hard. She simply stared into the large fireplace before them.

“The three of us had taken the fall of our community harshly. Sargon hasss had the hardesst time coping," Isella scoffed at her own words, "By Cazic that iss too kind of me to put it! He ssspiralled out of control, and has committed unspeakable actss even by our standardss. It wass to the point we ccceased contact with him.”

Isella frowned, her eyes firmly meeting Olisha’s. The elven guildmaster's gut sank.

“Well shit. Do you think I’ll be in danger meeting him?" She queried. Not that she couldn't handle danger, but that was obviously something she did not want to invite into their walls.

“He iss requesting a… public meeting. You… should be sssafe there.” Athenia struggled with her common tongue this time around, and drew up one leg on the sofa to put her arms around her folded knee. She was still staring out into the fireplace, visibly uncomfortable with what was taking place.

“Should I mention you two are here? Do you want to come with me?” Olisha offered.

“It would not endanger us to mention our presence. We need not come but - hsss.” A smirk tugged at Isella’s mouth as she brought her thumb to her chin, pondering. “It has been sssome years. Perhaps thisss is a ssign we are ready to reunite or move forward. It will depend on what he has to say and was you assesss of this… ssssituation.”

Olisha shrugged “Fate has a funny way of working out. If this isn’t the time for it, then maybe it’s just the seed that gets planted this time around.”

“Wise wordsss, Miss N’Vasssvor,” Athenia said as if she were trying to find comfort in them, but her twitching tail gave away her still-lingering anxiety.

The Teir'dal laughed and waved a hand at her companions, “Eh, you live this long and you notice a few things about life. Anyway. I’ll go check this out. We’ll see where we go after we meet. If I smell trouble brewing he won’t be let in, simple as that.”

~*~

Windday came, and Olisha had arrived at the Basilisk’s Lair in Freeport. It was a relatively new establishment, forged when the city had sought to eliminate its more run-down areas. It was a popular spot for both Sarnak and Iksar alike, although the city’s non-scaled residents were relatively welcome as long as they did not invite trouble along with them.

Wrapped in her dark grey cloak, the dark elven woman expected the curious looks she received as soon as she entered. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for one belonging to her race to stir trouble at some point. She couldn’t help but smirk at the stares - she seemed like a tiny morsel compared to most of the other customers.

She ignored the attention and looked for the tall stranger clad in green, and she found him rather easily even from the booth tucked towards the back.

Sargon was dressed in a simple off-white shirt but his cloak and wooden mask were just as described. As his siblings had illustrated him, he was built like he took his role as a knight of Thule seriously and Olisha had a good hunch that what was sitting at that table was nothing but muscle, scale, and a whole pile of reptilian-flavoured danger.

She slid herself in a casual manner in the seat across from him like this was any other meeting but perked a brow as soon as she laid eyes on his large, Kunark-sized form up close. She was guessing he had to be at least eight feet tall if not more.

As soon as he had sight of her there, he was completely stiff, his back pressed behind the booth wall behind him. His thick, clawed hands were flattened on the wooden table. Everything about his body language was screaming as if he’d just seen a ghost.

“What, am I that scary?” Olisha smirked with a teasing chuckle. This was an unexpected reaction. “I am Olisha N’Vasvor. You, Sargon Varsiss, requested this meeting.”

She could hear the breath that was let out from behind his mask. Now she was confused, but she wore a calm expression even as a pang of alarm rose in her gut. Considering how deadly his siblings had proven themselves to be, she expected no less from him. She would need to be quick if this was about to turn dark.

His dull-reddish-hued hands slid from the table into his lap and he looked to the side. He paused as if he were confronting all of his life decisions up to that point.

Finally, one hand rose to pull the fabric of his hood back and the other moved to remove the mask covering his features. He finally was revealed in full to her, and now Olisha could see why he was so shocked to have her slide up in front of him.

She audibly gasped. In a volume barely audible above the din of the tavern she squeaked.

“I fucked you!”

~*~

Now Olisha understood why the sizable iksar before her was so startled at her presence. Shock and disbelief crept over her now too, and her cheeks gave her feelings away by turning a bright purple-pink considering everything they’d been up to together during the past several weeks.

“Ssa,” was all that Sargon replied in his deep, husky voice. That was a ‘yes’ in Sathirian; the language he preferred speaking since they’d met. His blue-green eyes still hadn’t met her own as he continued to digest the situation.

“You um, shrunk yourself when we met before,” Olisha stated as plainly as she could even with her voice cracking. She was stupefied, and she was also trying not to laugh at the absurdity of all of this. They were a peculiar partnership to begin with and this only served to heighten the anomalous nature of it all.

Sargon finally turned his aquamarine hues on her. Indeed he had been a good two feet shorter in stature the last time they’d crossed paths. He sighed before speaking in his native tongue. “It is easier to find partners in this city that way.”

“Yeah, fair,” Olisha replied in her usual common language, an exchange that had become regular between the two. She couldn’t control herself for much longer and burst out laughing, holding her stomach until she calmed enough to speak again. She wiped a small tear from her eye as she settled. “So uh, telling each other our names was going to complicate things? Is that how you put it?”

Sargon audibly groaned and rubbed his face. He caught sight of a barmaid and immediately ordered the best ales for the both of them. They would indeed need a drink considering everything taking place.

They sat in the most awkward silence until their drinks were brought to them in steins fitting to their stature, and both consumed a good portion before the conversation continued.

“I notice you’re not bolting for the door,” Olisha remarked after she took a few good swigs of her beverage.

“No. Unfortunately I am being pushed in this direction by powers greater than ourselves. I must see this meeting through.” Sargon’s expression was certainly sour, but he looked resigned to his fate.

“Oh good, because it gets worse!” she looked him dead in the eyes as she burst into laughter again.

Athenia and Isella were both cautious and even troubled about his presence as if he was capable of terrible violence. Olisha, while wholly believing this, had known him in more recent times than they and in ways that could have easily gotten her killed. She was confident that at least this time, her familiarity with him wasn’t going to end in harm to her person.

“Ssa?” Sargon looked pained, but it was as if he was feeling like he was deserving of worse. He took another deep drink of his ale.

Olisha took another swig of her own before dropping her next statement. “Your sisters are in this guild, too.”

Sargon’s massive fist pounded the table as he choked on the amber liquid in his stein. He coughed, he groaned, he set down his ale, and he finally put his horned head in his hands as he took large breaths to calm his rage and horror.

“Do they know of this?!” He finally hissed in Sathirian. Olisha could hear a part of his tail was thunking against the booth in agitation.

Olisha watched his reaction in full before continuing to empty her own drink. “They know of this current meeting taking place. Everything else? They have no idea. That’s absolutely none of their business.”

“The one time I go outside of my kind…” Sargon lifted his head and intensely stared off at the wall beside their booth.

“Well, crazy shit happens. Let’s get back to this guild thing and why you wanted to join us in the first place because you definitely have me curious.” She was happily in a buzz from her drink at this point, and that felt like a good time to get on to guild matters.

Sargon’s expression at present was as if he wanted to scream until his lungs collapsed. He however sat back and sighed, looking like he was getting to that inebriated state himself.

He finished his drink and put it to the end of the table, a gesture silently requesting a refill. He lightly scowled and took a deep breath.

"I angered some of Tunare's followers. I will not delve into details. What followed was some kind of curse. I have been plagued by nightmares full of images of the people I have ‘unjustly’ slaughtered - of what they experienced at their deaths and now I am to… grow or continue this madness every night." He clasped his hands together on the table.

"Growth as a person, wow." Olisha casually folded her arms and looked up at him. "So what about my guild specifically made you write to me?"

Sargon watched as a barmaid came to refill his drink, and he drank some more before he grumbled in his mother tongue "I have had to think about what ‘growth’ could possibly mean to a follower of that deity, for it is not what Cazic Thule or what those of Kunark would request of me. No, I am certain they mean some kind of atonement for my past actions or similar. Joining forces with others different from myself seemed like the logical first step.”

“What kind of ‘past actions’ are we talking about?” Olisha queried in a more rigid tone. Now she had to ask the serious questions.

“Isella did not tell you of her arm?” Sargon looked surprised at this revelation. Olisha would know that his sister’s right arm had been severed just above the elbow, but she still retained use of her right appendage thanks to ongoing magic that kept the skeletal remains of her own hand and wrist animated.

“Wait, you did that? She said she lost it in a duel!” The bewildered guildmaster lightened her stein more, surprised herself at the admission.

Sargon smirked lightly. How kind of his sibling to put it that way. “It was a duel of sorts, a challenge. Looking back now, it was for my own pride more than anything and I should not have issued it. I pushed too far. While I am happy she was able to find a solution to the damage done to her, it should not have happened in the first place. Not by her kin, her family who should be fighting beside her.”

Olisha studied the way he delivered his answer. A person can say any words they like, it’s how they are said and the actions that follow after that determine how sincere they were. He looked like he was despising the admission of his wrongdoings, but it sounded like he had no choice but to face them now.

“That’s nice for you to admit, so there will be no more of that?" Olisha quirked a brow.

"Absolutely not," Sargon replied sharply. "If I am invited to be a member of the guild, then I have a great deal of mending to do where my siblings are concerned. Perhaps that will be a part of lifting my curse.”

He continued, "With what’s taken place between us, and with Cloudwalkers being the guild they came to, it cannot be coincidence.” He sighed in what was the most depressive way an Iksar of his size possibly could.

"You do realize the guild is a neutral meeting ground, right? People from all walks of life gather here to fight for a common cause." She leaned in and gave him a stern stare.

“Yes, you are modelling yourselves after the New Combine Empire after what took place with Kerafym,” Sargon grumbled. “It seems I will have to be content to ally myself with the lesser races of Norrath.”

The mighty warrior realized his mistake the second it left his mouth. His eyes widened just as he caught the fiery glare that filled Olisha’s own. He held up a hand as he set down his stein on the table as if he were preparing for an onslaught of epic proportions. Not that he had any idea what the woman before him was truly capable of, but it was fairly common knowledge that a Teir’dal was no one you wanted angry with you. He had enough forces displeased with him as-is.

“I-I do not mean to say you are beneath me, pet!” Sargon grasped for the right words to placate his unlikely lover and potential guild leader, “I would be dishonest if I said that I have not enjoyed our time together. If I can appreciate such… activities with someone so different than I, then surely I can raise my sword alongside others in battle.”

Olisha’s tension visibly diffused. She smirked. All right, she’d give him that save. Perhaps it was a taste of how he would be in conflict resolution to come.

“All right, sir. I’ll give you a pass,” she folded her arms with that smirk still on her face, “So you’d be joining us as a warrior of Thule?”

“Correct. I offer my services as a knight in his name. Everything I will do is for him, and for lifting this damned curse. Now you know my motives.” Sargon took a couple more drinks from his stein before sitting back with a sigh as he seemed to be successful in coming the situation. “I can promise you, our encounters had nothing to do with it. Those make all of this awkward.”

“Mmmhm. There will be a definite role reversal here with my leading of the guild,” Olisha leaned back herself. “It’s definitely amusing. Guild business is guild business, and anything beyond that is none of anyone else’s. Although people might catch on if you keep calling me ‘pet’, sir.”

For the first time since the meeting began, the faintest smirk of amusement crossed Sargon’s scaled features as she playfully jabbed at him. That was more of the person she’d gotten to know, or at least a facet of him seeing as they kept much of their lives from one another.

“Sorry if this is forward as fuck, but I know about Rathis and I hear you’ve had the worst time dealing with it. You’ll be bringing your skills as a knight to our guild, but we can have your back, too,” OIisha started, cautiously watching him as he took another drink of ale. “There may be opportunities in Ro’s deserts to help you with your curse, so we could pursue that. But you know, if it means we go get ourselves a room and forget about the world for a bit like we’ve been doing? We could do that, too. Whatever we can do for you. Within reason. I don’t want to get cursed, too.”

Sargon paused his drinking, and set his stein down as a stone-hard gaze found Olisha’s petite form. She wondered if at that moment it was she who had gone too far.

He rested his arms on the table and sighed, his voice was heavy with exhaustion. "That's the first time in eons that I’ve been offered something like that."

"Well, it probably won't be the last. We're all a family by choice here as awfully sappy as that sounds. The world is full of shit and we’re all here to make it a little less so while within our walls.” It was rare she found herself giving such a sentimental pep talk like this, but the situation called for it.

Sargon’s hand completely engulfed hers in an almost comical way. She had to smirk at their true size difference as they gently shook on their new alliance.

“Thank you,” Sargon said after some pause. He still seemed weary, but he was at least calmed with the direction the conversation went.

“Welcome to Cloudwalkers?” Olisha put her hand out for him to shake.

She playfully patted his hand with her free hand and let go. She then gave him one of her more typical grins he'd come to know from her. “Let’s get onto the fun parts. Like guild tours.”

~*~

Sargon and Olisha stood in the guild hall’s lushly-decorated common area, the former taking in everything that she had just walked him through. Throughout the whole tour, she could tell there was still something pulling at him.

“Is all this a bit too much? You look really bothered,” she plainly called him out.

Sargon let out a harsh sigh, “You must think me weak for what happened in Rathis.”

“Pfft, please. I’ve lived over three hundred years and have seen that sometimes shit things happen to people and for no good reason either.” Olisha firmly crossed her arms as she looked up at his large frame.

He seemed to relax somewhat as if she had pulled tension straight from him, loosening some bothersome knot.

However that tension soon resumed as the guild hall doors opened, and a familiar figure soon found herself in the doorway to the commons.

Isella froze as she laid eyes on her brother, and he did as much when he saw her. The air was suddenly thick and heavy with so many years of harsh history there before them.

“Isella…” Sargon started, but he soon stopped as she swiftly closed the distance between them.

“Welcome home, Sargon.” She said this in Sathirian, offering her hand still clad in her plated Freeport uniform - the exact hand he had severed years ago. She came to him not with malice but with hope that maybe this time they could finally come together as the family they were.

“I am home,” he replied in their native tongue. He couldn’t help but smile faintly as he latched onto what was left of her right wrist, and she in turn latched onto his. All this time had passed and so much had transpired, and Isella still welcomed him back. Emotions swelling, his other hand then clasped onto the other side of her hand he held, and she reciprocated.

“Let the dark parts of our past stay there. So long as you can do that, we can build a better future.” Isella’s words were as firm but gentle. She was still cautious even with the hope that filled her.

“Athenia…" Sargon started, but lost what he was going to say as his thoughts weighed down on him.

"Show her you mean well. She is still afraid of you, but it need not stay that way. We can shift that fear onto those who should fear us in the first place." Isella watched her brother as he soaked in her words. He seemed tired, remorseful. Something in him had definitely shifted since the last time they crossed paths.

"I can leave you two be! Sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do." Olisha offered.

"Has he passsed your judgement, Olisha?" Isella asked in common, smirking as she came away from him.

"He has, he has!" Olisha put her hands up and waved them as she snickered, "We had a nice drink and a chat."

"We have met before," Sargon offered, and as that left his mouth he realized he'd have to explain that.

"Yes! One of the taverns in Freeport. Funny how fate works." Olisha smirked and put her hands on her hips. The large Kunark native was impressed with how seamlessly her lie came to her. He nodded in relief. It seems his open nature may come with drawbacks.

"Then thisss was indeed meant to happen." Isella gave a firm pat to Sargon's shoulder. "We will take thisss one day at a time, hsss?"

Sargon gently nodded once more. Even with all the comedy that had been involved in his meeting with Olisha, standing within the guild's hall with his kin felt right. While he was still uneasy considering their tumultuous past, for once he finally felt that he was where he was supposed to be.

For now, he was home.

#eq2 #everquest 2 #fanfic #my-writing #dear gods I did it #I actually brought forth writing into the world #IDK how good of a writer I am but this was fun to do anyway lol #Sargon is now in his redemption mode #my-writings

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