Zack

Zack had just stepped out of his house to meet Anna when he spotted Barry Dewcrest lounging outside his door across the street. The man looked as slobbish as ever, wearing a wine-stained shirt and pants with his pale face covered in stubble. Still, today, Barry looked unusually alert.

Before Zack could hurry off to find Anna, Barry waved. “Got a moment?”

It would be rude to ignore their neighbor. Zack genuinely considered it, but his mother always insisted he remain on good terms with their neighbors. It wasn’t that Zack disliked Barry—the man could be fun, especially in his cups—but he had someone much more attractive he had to meet, and soon.

Still, he could say hello and excuse himself soon after. His mother would be proud of his generosity. Zack walked across the street. “Sure, old man. What’s on your mind?”

“I hear the desert is quite lovely this time of year,” Barry said.

“More coin than you could earn in two lifetimes,” the woman said. “Yet the crystal is not your payment. It’s the job. I’d like you to carry it in your pack for a few days, then covertly deliver it to the first person who approaches you and says the words ‘The desert is lovely this time of year’.”

“That’s cute,” Zack agreed. “Anything else?”

“Tell no one we’d spoken. Tell no one of the crystal. Break either rule and our deal’s off.”

Zack’s closed his mouth and took a moment to gather himself. Then, he reached into his [Leather Pouch]. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Barry smiled wanly. “Why would I do that?”

Zack glanced left, then right. The street remained empty. He knew he hadn’t misheard Barry Dewcrest, and he also knew this man was the last person he’d expect to be part of the Shadowers Guild. Barry was the father of a Town Guard, after all!

Zack walked close and palmed over Xiva’s glistening crystal. Barry tucked into his own pouch with the ease of a man Zack now knew was all too talented at snatching coin purses. The man passed back a small pouch clinking with coin. The second half of Xiva’s payment, as promised.

Yet Barry Dewcrest was Townsfolk, and an Alchemist besides. Also, according to rumors, not a very good one. How was he mixed up with the Shadowers Guild?

“You’re in, by the way,” Barry said casually. “It’s rare for the call to come down so quickly, but someone up there must think highly of you.”

Zack remembered how Xiva had literally frozen time. “Up there?”

“In the upper echelons,” Barry said. “Definitely somewhere above the Ringleader. So whatever you’re doing for those people, keep doing it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Zack’s thoughts and suspicions about the woman he’d met in The Mead Beast threatened to spiral out of control. “So ... what happens now? Do I get, like—”

“A cute little pin to wear on your collar?” Barry chuckled. “No. You get your name spoken in the ears of the right people. When you want work you come to me, at least until you leave Grassea.”

“Interesting,” Zack agreed.

“After you Level out and move to Evolan, I’ll tell you who to contact in Lakebrooke. That’s really all there is to it. We’re not the Blazers. There’s no contract to sign and no Quests to complete. You work when you want to work and you make good coin.”

He’d really done it. He really was part of the Shadowers Guild. So now that he’d accomplished what he set out to do from the moment he chose his Class, the question was ... what now?

“Does Joanne know about your side job?” Zack asked.

“None of your business, boy. I’ve told you all they made me tell.”

“Right, fair,” Zack agreed. “So ... guess I’ll be off then.”

“Nothing stopping you. Though there is one thing. A request, not an order.”

“I thought we only work when we want to work.”

“All true,” Barry agreed. “Yet there’s something about Anna Bronzelight that even we haven’t figured out. Something beyond this plot with her brother, something she’s hiding from everyone. The Ringleader’s been real curious about what she’s truly up to, so if you learn something, and you share it with us, there’s good coin in it for you. A whole lot of good coin.”

“Right,” Zack said. “I’ll consider it.” He certainly had no plans to betray Anna’s confidence, but he didn’t need to tell Barry that. “One more question for you, then. A request, not an order.”

“Sure.”

“Who’s Xiva?”

“The patron God of Shadowers?”

“Not the God,” Zack said patiently. “The woman who gave me that gem. About my height, late twenties, Timestrider or Voidstrider based on her armor. She had a figure that could snap necks.”

“Doesn’t sound like anyone I recognize,” Barry said. “Not that I’d tell you if I did.”

“But she was part of the Shadowers Guild. She gave me that crystal so I could protect Anna from whatever Demons got sent after her. So how was she involved in all this?”

Barry frowned. “I’ll be honest with you, kid, just this once. I have absolutely no idea who you’re talking about, but there’s all sorts of folks out there I haven’t met. Who am I to say who might be tossing around rare Artifacts? So far as I know, you might have got this gem from Xiva Herself.”

Zack didn’t believe that. He couldn’t believe that. Could he?

“Be seeing you.” Barry slipped inside his home without another word.

So. This was the real Barry Dewcrest. A modestly talented Alchemist, the town drunk, and the father of the woman soon to succeed Logain Cliffbreeze as captain of the Town Guard.

And also, apparently, a high-ranking member of the Shadowers Guild.

Barry would have easy access to any official work Joanne brought home with her after a long day. Information that be invaluable to a guild of lawbreakers. Zack wondered if Barry had always been part of the guild, or if they’d approached him and offered coin after the Gods chose Joanne.

It didn’t matter, really. This wasn’t his problem, and Barry wasn’t hurting anyone ... technically. Barry was just passing on information that would make it a bit easier for those who thought some laws were unnecessary to do their work without getting in trouble. Zack could see the value in that.

He looked up. The sun was setting fast, and he still had somewhere to be. He put all thoughts of crystal artifacts and incredibly attractive Gods from his mind and strolled off to meet Anna Ironstar—no, Bronzelight, officially now—outside the town gates.

With Anna now safe and out of danger, Alan Starshine was setting off for Lakebrooke and a boat to Aquarine, tonight, likely to reunite with whoever he’d left behind there. It would be rude not to say goodbye to Alan.

As for any future with Anna, well ... that was what they needed to figure out.