Chapter 3.26 VANISHING CHILDREN

City of Stuglegen

5th Waterday of the Full Moon

Flea and Bob left the auction house after bidding Veepo farewell. The Kobold explained to the pair that after each auction ended, they could return to him to claim the proceeds, minus the ten percent due to the house.

Hopefully, with their monetary needs taken care of, the next stop was a branch of the Adventurers’ Guild. After getting directions from a guard, the duo found the building after backtracking toward the city’s center. As with the auction house, the Guild’s was a massive building, several stories taller than the one in Dustgrove. Entering, Flea immediately noticed its layout was different from the previous two.

The quest boards were far more numerous and were separated by the type of quests covered. Flea saw missions for combat, gathering, escort, and investigation. However, the board with the most quests seemed to be the one for protection. Walking up to the protection board, Flea began to read through the quests.

After going through the few he could see at his rank, a pattern was immediately apparent. Every quest was to watch over a child during the night. In the short time, he was standing there, several adventures came in and grabbed the quests above Tin-ranked. Not one bothered to look at the quests towards the bottom. Wanting to know what was going on, Flea randomly grabbed one of the quests and removed the top sheet. He was quite surprised when it didn’t crumble.

Wanting some answers, Flea walked over and stood in line to speak with one of the receptionists. After a few minutes, he walked up to the tall desk and had to climb up a small ladder to speak with a lanky Avian covered in black and yellow feathers.

“Hello, I was curious if you could explain to me what’s going on with all of the quests to watch over children during the night? And why didn't this quest go into my journal when I grabbed it?” Flea said as he placed the quest on the desk’s top.

“Many children have gone missing in the middle of the night over the last few cycles,” said the Avian as he turned his head to the side and eyed the paper Flea placed on the desk.

The black and yellow Avian picked the quest’s paper up and examined it.

“This is not an official quest through the System. The Elders have allowed anyone to request an adventurer’s help to keep their children safe. Those who can’t afford to register a quest with a reward can put these up in hopes someone may offer their assistance when there may not be a reward or chit,” the Avian said.

“Does anyone have any information on the missing children or what or who may be taking them?” asked Flea.

“There is none, I’m afraid. If you check the investigation board, you will find the quest the city has issued to find and stop who or whatever is whisking away the children of Stuglegen.”

“Thank you for informing us,” said Flea.

Flea and Bob walked over to the investigation board and looked for the quest. Bob pointed it out almost immediately at the center of the board. Removing the top sheet, it crumbled to dust and gave Flea a notification. He pulled up his journal.

Quest Journal

The children of Stuglegen are going missing. The Elder’s Council has requested every Adventurers’ cooperation in finding and putting a stop to those responsible. There have been 27 reports of children vanishing without a trace from their beds as they slept. Any new information should be reported to Elder Sqiayee Rewards are variable

Flea looked over the tin protection quest and noted the address of the requester’s home. Seeing it would be dark soon, Flea had to ask a couple of the adventurers before finding one who could give the directions they needed. The Gnome and cat left, heading to what the adventurer described as the slums of the city.

When they arrived at that part of the city, Flea was happy to see the slums were not what he had envisioned. The area reminded him of the nicer parts of Dustgrove, with the packed dirt roads and wooden buildings. Finding the correct house, Flea knocked on the door. A few moments later, it cracked open a small amount.

“Yes? What can I do for you,” a gruff voice asked.

“I have your quest to watch over your child and home for the night.”

The door slowly opened to reveal a Dwarf.

“Please, come in. I didn’t think anyone would respond to our request.”

“Well, we did. The Guild receptionist told us something is taking the children, and no one knows what’s doing it? To be honest, I haven’t seen a single child in the last month, I mean cycle, that I’ve been playing in the game.”

“Oh, your race is new to The Games. Please take a seat, and I’ll explain.”

Flea sat on the chair across from the Dwarf, and Bob took a seat at the kitchen table.

“You can have children in The Games. Having a child is a rare occurrence for most races, but when it happens, it’s something to celebrate and also, fear. If the mother dies while pregnant, they will respawn without the baby. When the child is born, they do not have the ability to respawn till their tenth phase and are registered at the Guild. Most families keep their children safe behind closed doors till that day. In the city of Stuglegen, there may be less than a thousand under the age of ten. Now, with children vanishing without a trace, it’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”

“No one has any idea on how they are being taken?”

“Nothing has been said if they do know.”

“Can I ask why you couldn’t afford to put out a proper quest?” asked Bob from the kitchen.

Flea looked at Bob like he had just struck the Dwarf.

“No harm in asking. I made some bad investments. In order to pay back what I borrowed from my clan, I had to sell off my knowledge. Now my wife is the only crafter in the household, and I stay home to take care of and teach Silvia.”

“You sold off the knowledge of your craft in a Knowledge Book?” asked Flea.

“That’s correct.”

Flea heard steps coming down the stairs behind Bob and looked over. He expected to meet the wife, but a young, quiet redheaded female Dwarf made her way down the steps and went wide-eyed as she saw Bob.

“Come here, Silvia.” said the Dwarf.

The young girl came running through the kitchen and dove into the Dwarf’s arms.

“Friends, papa?”

“Yes, they came to make sure you stay safe, sweetie. This is Silvia, and I’m Thodir. I don’t have much to offer you, but I hope you can help me keep my daughter safe.”

“We don’t need to talk about the reward now. Could you show us where Silvia sleeps, so we can plan on how best to watch over her?” asked Flea.

Thodir nodded and picked up his daughter and placed her on his shoulders. Flea and Bob followed him up the stairs to a room with a single-window. Thick steel bars lined outside the glass. Thordir, seeing Flea look at the bars, spoke up.

“Wife thought it best to put bars across the window after the first couple children were reported taken. I can set up beds for you two downstairs if you like.”

“That would be great, thank you. What time does your wife get home?”

“She won’t be home until after the sunrise bells. She works the night shift at the forge.”

“Alright. Bob, you stay with Silvia. I’m going to find a nice spot outside to watch the area.”

“Sounds like a plan. If you need to sleep, sleep. I can stay up the entire night, Flea,” said Bob.

Flea nodded to his companion, walked downstairs and out of the house. Looking around the street as the sun’s last rays began to vanish, he noticed this part of town had no lamps along the roadway. Looking across the street, he spotted a flat piece of a roof he could sit on.

Walking around the building into an alley, Flea spotted a set of stairs that went up to the house’s second floor. He bounded up the stairs, hopped onto the handrail, and then pulled himself onto the rooftop. Carefully he climbed to the house’s peak and then over to the flat part next to the chimney.

Looking across the street, he could now see the barred window of Silvia’s room. Being high up, Flea took in his surroundings. As far as he could see were two-story houses and chimneys. Looking back towards the city’s center, he watched as each area transitioned from dusk to night. It would light up along the streets and avenues. The Gnome wondered what the city was using to power the large bright lamps.

Not seeing anything of interest, Flea sat cross-legged and took out his Manariken and armband set and strapped it to his right hand. Flea decided to practice with his new weapon while he watched over the house. He started slowly at first, just having the star spin and hover above his hand. Five minutes into watching the manariken spin, Flea got light-headed and dizzy as the star dropped into his open palm.

Figuring that was the indicator he had run out of mana, Flea decided to rest for a bit and have a look around. After a half-hour and seeing nothing that caught his eye, Flea went back to his manariken practice. He continued to gain more control over the blades throughout the night slowly. The Gnome figured out he could regain his mana after twenty minutes of rest and spend it in less than five, controlling the star.

Flea practiced controlling the manariken to spin around him in an even flat circle for what seemed like hours. When he started nodding off, he rested his head against the chimney and passed out.

When the bells began to toll out across the city, Flea jumped to his feet. Looking behind him, he saw the first rays of sunshine peeking through the distant clouds on the horizon. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he jumped down to the stairs below and made his way out of the alley. Coming around to the front of the house, he was surprised to see Bob sitting on the front porch with a bowl of something in his hand.

“Here’s breakfast. Just simple porridge. Thodir thought it best you have some food.”

Flea thanked Bob as he took the bowl and began to eat.

“Learn anything of use last night?”

Bob shrugged before speaking, “The Dwarven alphabet and a fair bit about enchanting or rune carving.”

“How did that come up?”

“Silvia explained most of it. I guess Thodir was a pretty decent rune carver at one time. Even taught Silvia some of it before he sold the knowledge,” said Bob.

“Can I help you two? Sorry, if you’re beggars, we have nothing to offer you,” a feminine voice said.

The pair looked over to the redheaded Dwarven woman coming down the road.

“Ah, you must be Silvia’s mother. I’m Flea, and this is my companion Bob. We responded to your request to watch over your little one,” said Flea.

The Dwarven woman bent over and hugged Flea into a bear hug before speaking.

“Oh, thank you! You have no idea how worried I am every night as I work with no one but my idiot husband watching over her.”

The woman put down Flea, Bob chuckling at the look on the Gnome’s face. Bob then let out a small cry as the woman lifted him into a big hug as well.

“Don’t worry about it. We have nothing to do during the night, so we figured we could help someone out. Could you tell us a decent inn we could stay at while we are in Stuglegen? We just arrived here today.”

“Oh, that’s easy. My brother Hezzal owns the inn, Diamond Tipped. Let him know his sister Damnida sent you, and you’re looking after our Silvia.”

Damnida then explained how to get to her brother’s inn. Flea handed her his bowl before the pair began following the directions she had given.