Leaving the west gate of Tharis Isaiah gave the guard who told him yet again that elves were only allowed through the west gate an impolite gesture. The guard being an NPC did not respond at all. The road west of Tharis, or rather the road between Tharis and Azha had forests to the north and mountains to the south. He typed west a few more times and the rooms mostly read exactly the same. They alluded to a large empire to the south. Something about a Tsarven empire existed south of the mountains. Eventually he came to a path leading north from the road. He peered north and it appeared to be some kind of barrow. One of the rooms was named ‘burial mound’. He wanted to check it out. But the area screamed of undead. He was no Cleric or Paladin who could turn undead. He was looking for an alchemist to identify his bone dagger not his death. He didn’t see any monsters from the peer but he also knew this game had invisible enemies. That goblin assassin proved that something may look safe from a distance but it really wasn’t.

West west west

Isaiah continued west. The next fork in the road leads to a ruined keep. It was just one room with a gate. He tried to open the gate and expected it to be locked. To his surprise, the gate opened. There were a couple rooms inside. Isaiah didn’t think this was another adventure area because it was so small. He decided to risk a quick look around. One of the rooms had the title of ‘Keep of the order of Metallic Dragons.’ Isaiah’s player remembered this from somewhere. Order Of Metallic Dragons… where had he heard that before? Ah yes, the website. There were four guilds listed there.

The Order of Metallic Dragons

The Legion of Lost souls

The Iron Fist

The Illuminati

Maybe this used to be some kind of a guild hall? The way this small area was written definitely came across as an abandoned guild hall. It just felt so sad. Literally sad, the text wrote out on the screen

“You feel a sense of sadness as you walk through the gates of this once great and noble bastion of past heroes.”

Past Heroes… this must have been an old good aligned guild that disbanded. Isaiah explored the few rooms. There was a courtyard on the other side of the ruined, unlocked gates. There was a treasury room that had an open and empty vault. There was a war room with a round table that some knights might sit at. The last room was a membership office. There once was a desk and a list of members. On the floor was a golden brooch. It was the emblem of the order of metallic dragons.

Isaiah cast detect magic and picked up the brooch on the floor. He checked it out and it had a very vague description of being a metal emblem of dragons. It didn’t seem to be magical so he could use it without getting cursed. It was jewelry so he could equip it over his armor without it conflicting. It was a nice little thing. Isaiah wasn’t really thinking much about presenting as a member of a disbanded guild but a shiny trinket was a shiny trinket. Might as well equip said trinket and smile proudly.

What great heroes walked these halls? Would Nightfall fear them? Isaiah’s player imagined a fight where Nightfall missed his stab and a holy blade of a Paladin struck true, sending him to have an awkward conversation with a god and a wall of souls. “Oh well, it doesn't hurt to have fantasies” Isaiah’s player said to himself from behind the keyboard he was typing on. He didn’t even consider trying to get revenge against Nightfall. There was no way, Isaiah was likely dozens of levels lower than him and didn’t know the first thing about player killing. Nightfall was invisible when he attacked. How would he even find him even if he was suicidal enough to try to play the ‘warrior of justice.’

Maybe that is what happened to this guild. People got together to play the warrior of justice and battle the evil team and it ended up like this. Isaiah’s player wondered what the deal with the other guilds listed on the website was. Were the guilds all defunct? Were guilds no longer a thing? Was there a guild you could join that didn’t involve dying over and over again? Such big grandiose thoughts were distracting. Why was Isaiah here standing in a ruined castle that he didn’t belong in. Oh that was right he was on a much simpler quest. The quest for owl feather.

Isaiah left the Order of Metallic Dragons. He continued down the Tharis-Azha road until it made it to the gates of Azha. The first impression of Azha was that the layout was confusing. One would expect just heading west on the road would eventually lead straight into the center of town but it wasn’t laid out that nicely. Right before the city the room was called ‘Crossroads of the empires.’ There was a temple right there as well. He checked it out but no one was home. From his experience with Lathander’s temple it was mostly just a place to hang out and talk. The temple was dedicated to the god Tyr. It had a bit of a fortress look. Maybe Tyr was a deity for knights. Isaiah’s player started to ponder but chastised himself. “Stop getting distracted, focus on what you are really looking for,” He silently told himself. Who cares about rumors of a Tsarven empire to the south and a grand elven civilization hidden in the forest.

Here was the tricky part, the west gates were southeast of the temple and east a few rooms. Someone goes west… expects east gates, passes the town and has to double back a bit and enters through the west gates. Isaiah’s player discovered he was directionally challenged and struggled to orient himself correctly. The town was bustling. It had no gate that could be closed at night like shadow city did.

The people had a bit of an arabic theme going on. One room was called a ‘custom’s office’. There was a custom’s officer there named Samir al-Emir. There was a barber shop as well. Though the barber was actually a healer. Isaiah’s player thought this odd. What did barbers and healers have to do with one another?

There was a couple vendors with a few things for sale in the market square (which was helpfully 6 rooms that made a square). There was a guy named Vishnu Bokara selling some estranged and mystical wares. Isaiah checked what was for sale. Some key on a cord that they wanted 900 gold for, nope, a golden ring they wanted 24 gold for. Hmm that might be helpful. There was a tarnished band of metal they wanted 120 gold for. He wondered if any of this stuff did anything useful. But he didn’t want to spend money on anything but owl feathers right now.

Isaiah found a room that said it was a south gate. There were no doors or any way to keep heading south. It looked like the game dead ended here. After walking around in circles a few times Isaiah finally found the components shop.

Carbon 15 gold 21 stored

Copper 5 gold 87 stored

Fur 1 gold 47 stored

Feather 1 gold 62 stored

Gum arabic 20 gold 50 stored

Nitric acid 72 gold 89 stored

Owlfeather 10 gold 4 stored

Water 1 gold 89 stored

And there it was, the owlfeather he quested so hard for! Isaiah noticed that the feather was much cheaper. He tried buying a feather and put it into his components bag.

‘You do not have the components to cast this spell.’

It mocked him as he tried to cast identify on his bone knife. He broke down and spent the money for the shop’s entire inventory of owl feathers. Well that is 40 gold down the drain it was a bit of a bummer. He cast the spell.

Blinking several times, you chant a short phrase.

You touch the Bone Knife and reveal its magical nature.

Isaiah’s player cheered to himself for completing his quest that he assigned to himself. He was proud that he was now the owner of a +1 Sword of Insanity and a +1 Bone Knife.