“So my dear Tikari, what skills shall we learn first”

“Actually” She looks up at me, hands held behind her back and left foot circling the ground shyly “Can we go on an adventure. Please, I’m kind of sick of learning things”

Her squirrel eyes are super effective!

“Ok fine, but I do need to log off tonight.”

“Perfect!” She jumps up in delight “Lets go to the guild and register!”

Half dragging me along, of course she’s got strength, we pass through the deadows in merely an hour and into Shoala (Tikari retold me its name. hallelulaigh). Passing through the bustling streets, and into the guild, we queue up behind a large topless Orc with numerous scars running down his back.

“I’m sorry Hargot but I can't do that”

“Please Wendy” An Orc saying please? What madness is this, I need this

“you know the rules”

“But Wendy she’s just a little girl!”

“I’m not budging on this Hargot”

“And what about mee” I waltz right into it “I heard little girl and” don’t look at me like that Tikari “It seems like she’s in trouble. i’ll be happy to help her out.”

“Ah Joat” She doesn’t seem that unpleased that I interrupted, emphasis on ‘that’ “You’re only Stone level, and a WindWhistler at that.”

“And what’s the job, I’m a very resourceful hobgoblin I’ll have you know”

She looks at me for a moment, a slight blue glow glistening over her eyes, oho she’s scanning me. I may have stood up a little straighter.

“You’re weak” Ouch, i’m really trying you know “But fine since no one else wants to help” She passes me a dirty piece of paper, scribbles written in haste. “The girl’s name is Kayla, just a street kid and one of her rats gave Hargot this to give into the guild.”

“So?”

“They’re not offering enough of a reward, or any for that matter so I can’t legally put it up on the board”

“That’s a bit harsh, she’s a little girl isn’t she?”

“Rules are rules” She shrugs her shoulders “Personally I’d do it but I’m not in charge”

“Ok so Hargot why haven’t you gone to her, you do look pretty strong” He is a 6ft orc with a back wider than me

“She’s been taken to the swamps” Oh, eu, no not the swamps. From what I remember that was an awful experience “And I can’t do this”

I look at him in the eye and raise my eyebrows.

“I can’t”

*Stare*

“I really really can’t stop staring at mee” He cowers under my stare

“You’re a coward aren’t you”

“No” He quivers from me

“Hargot the Quiverer, bronze rank, known for running away from four adventuring parties, leaving them all to die”

…

..

.

“Thank you Tikari for that information, how in the heck do you even know all that”

“Wendy gave me a list of all known adventurer’s in the area, always helps to know who’s here”

“Well. That’s just great, so you’re giving this away to the guild because you’re too scared to go out there”

“No! well yes but I just can’t do it. Not again” He shivers in his spot, holding himself tightly

An Orc with ptsd…

“Hargot, look. I’ll do this with you” He straightens up immediately “Only if you come with me”

“But but but…”

“There’s a little girl out there just dying for you to help her”

“Don’t say that, I didn’t want to be told this, I just can’t stop it, I can’t help her” He starts crying and starts running for the door.

Oh no you don’t you oversized baby.

Sliding my leg out to trip him up, he goes crashing into a seat, tumbling both him and his dwarven resident over in pile of curses and squeals (from Hargot I assume).

“Now look here” I plant a foot onto the Orc’s back, don’t even need to put pressure to stop him from lifting (not that I wouldn’t go flying across the room if he tried) “You’ve been given the job of saving someone’s life. You can stay here whining like a baby that you can’t do it, and when this girl does die because you didn’t save her, everyone that knows her is going to blame you for it. Or you can grow up, get up and find a little girl who needs your help”

“But I c-”

*Thud*

Kicking the back of his head (lightly) enough to smack his head against the floor, I apply a little pressure onto the back of it “Don’t say a single negative word, and every time you think negative, slap yourself. You are a bronze rank adventurer, you can save this girl. You can do it, just a have a little faith in yourself. Yes you’re a coward, but whatever killed your parties would probably have killed you too, so the fact that you’re alive tells me that you can handle yourself” Hes not whining at least, although I swear I see tears “Now get up and lets go save a girl”

Moving off of him, I swivel to the door and have Tikari sidle up next to me as we waltz out, leaving a silently crying orc on the floor.

…

..

.

“Every second you waste crying is one less second for Kayla” I speak towards the guild aaand about five seconds later he’s out, slapping himself as he walks towards the East gate.

“How is that working?” Tikari whispers to me as we quickly follow along

“Guilt, he may be terrified of going there and doing it, but he’s a good person. He went to the guild to get help. He wants to help. And right now, the thoughts in his head, about him being the one to blame is killing him more than the terror of facing the situation, if only a little bit. And of course the slight compliment about him surviving did give him a little confidence boost.”

“But its PTSD, isn’t it supposed to put him into a fight or flight mode?”

“Flight usually, but that’s why guilting him helps. A good person is driven by their guilt, a bad one by their greed”

“Very manipulative of you”

“Hey I’m trying to save a little girl here, playing nice and letting her die is getting your morals in the wrong place”

“Doing a bad thing for the right reasons”

“Exactly”

“You do know his parties all died in that swamp”

“I did not, and that is probably why he’s stopped” Stepping on his ankle to get him moving again, he scurries forward, at this moment a little more afraid of me than anything else.

“And that apparently they all died to some giant Bog Snake”

“I definitely did not know that. Actually can we not go do this”

“You know you publically said we’re doing this, and our reputation as adventurer’s would be ruined”

“we don’t have a reputation”

“Excuse me o’ Leader of the Orphans, I think we do” Ah bugger forgot about that Title, and the fact that word’s probably spread thanks to those villagers.

Chatting about trivial things like how Tikari has magical book summoning powers (its literally a dimensional storage power like mine) and the fact that she took Loreseeker as a class (I know though she won’t give me details beyond it takes a lot of reading to even get the lower tier version of it).

“So how many books have you read?”

“All of them in the library, and trust me, it wasn’t fun”

“In a week? What kind of reading ability do you have??”

“Advanced level 1, I’m a very quick reader IRL, takes me about 10 minutes to read 10,000 words and that's back in the real world. here..its a lot faster" Wow, that’s stupidly fast.

A few more seconds of talking and we’re at the edge of the swamp. Ah feels like a lifetime ago we all stumbled out covered in muck, shouting at eachother for all the random screwups while sprinting through.

Hargot has stopped as well, visibly shaking like a leaf.

“Hargot, slap yourself” He does “Now tell me, why has Kayla been taken here, and by who”

“Its Cardis, he’s a crazy madman who sacrifices young girls to the giant snake god”

…

..

.

Pretty standard I’d say, right?

“Ok, and the paper tells you that?”

“No its not the first time Cardis did this”

“And the town’s done nothing about this?”

“No, because they don’t believe me” His eyes are wide with fear “He keeps taking every girl I party with and sacrifices them, wherever I try to go”

“Woah woah, start from the beginning. While we walk through” He jumps back in fright “We’re wasting precious time standing here” He flicks his head to the swamp then me then the swamp again and back to me.

“Ok”

*GULP*

“Hey focus on telling me things, Tikari guide for us please” I snap my fingers at him as he begins to look around like a frightened mouse

“Cardis was in my party, we were hunting a giant bog snake requested by the guild. It was silver rank, I told them it was too much for us, but they all said we were ready for silver. I didn’t believe it, we were still just fresh bronze”

“Ok your party was stupid, continue”

“They weren’t stupid just young and”

“naïve, aka stupid. Continue please” No coddling or he’ll begin crying again, mean and green.

“…We went into the swamp, first to go was”

“Don’t say it, skip that and get to Cardis, what he did”

*gulp*

“He attacked Mich and I ran away as I saw the snake eat Hiane”

“And so how do you know he is sacrifing them not just going crazy?”

“My second party, to avenge the first…the same happened, and I saw, saw Cardis offering Annie”

“Ok, moving on. Slap yourself” He does but still shakes like a cold baby lamb “So Cardis has been sacrificing the women you’ve been travelling with, couldn’t you have mentioned that way before we got in”

He looks at me confused for a moment, before whirling towards Tikari who’s busy looking around everywhere, possibly a lot more after hearing the jumbled history of his past.

“You can’t be here, you have to go!” He sprints up to her, arms waving maniacally.

“She doesn’t know the way out, so guess you’ll have to protect her until we find a way out” Tikari definitely knows the way out, I mean we’ve only been walking for like five minutes.

“No, no, she can’t be here, it’s too dangerous what if he’s watching. What if he’s here”

“What if the widdle scawed owcy wants to wun home to mommy Wendy” A new voice pitches in from somewhere in the trees around us “Boo hoo mommy, big bad Cardis stwole my fwends again. Hes sacwificing them to a big bad snwake”

“Please Cardis no, they’re not bad people, don’t hurt them, don’t hurt me please”

“I told you Hargot, stop coming in heeeere. And oh myy what a lovely young lady you brought today”

“No Cardis don’t hurt her, please just stop. Why are you doing this?” Hargot’s already on his knees wailing. Well he’s not going to be any help.

“You Cardis, what is your deal? I mean I don’t think sacrificing women to Snakes does anything for anybody really”

“Really? I didn’t notice, hehe, but I enjoyyy it-”

And there’s a psycho in the swamp, quel supris’

“-And now I’m going to killlllll you all and feed you to HIM”

A rumble echoes through the swamp and a nearby bog pit explodes outwards, splattering mud everywhere, to reveal a thick black snake as tall as the decrepit trees staring right at me.

Hargot wails as he collapses into the mud, hands over his ears screaming “Please stop, please stop!” to himself over and over again. Tikari is just stood still, not moving, probably not having any idea what to do to not die. Much like me right now.

“Hello” I call out to the snake. I mean its worth a try right.

The snake looks at me…and cocks its head(I mean its whole upper body is swerving to one side).

“Tikari, do you know abyssal?” because my own is still apalling. maybe i should used my 502 days improving that

“A little, why?”

“Repeat this to him”

“This may be strange to you but you’re not alone, I’ve met your kind before”

It looks at me, confused but at the same time not.

“A surface dweller knowing the language? What are you?” Tikari translates to me. It speaks! Oh thank Aiag I don’t want to have to lose my hobgoblin race.

“We’re like you, just not snake-kind”

“And what are you doing here, surface dweller?”

“Looking for a little girl that you’re minion is planning to sacrifice to you”

It looks at me, unblinking for more than a few seconds before suddenly darting out into the trees over to our left, causing a short scream followed by a crunch of bones.

“IT was starting to annoy me, feeding me morsels like a pet. Although they are very tasty morsels”

“Have you eaten a little girl yet? She looks like? A human?”

“Not today. And I am still peckish” His eyes hungrily size each of us up.

“Let’s make a deal, is there anything you want and you’ll let us get out of here, girl included, without being eaten. I’ve already promised to kills some sky things for one of your ‘relatives’? but I imagine there’s something a little more personal you want” Tikari just looks at me in both fascination and wonder, what its not like I had a choice to deny the quest.

The snake…muses? It simply breathes out slowly for a long time, eyes squinting almost pensively.

“I require a mate, it gets awfully lonely here”

“Which is why you let that guy lnger about?” The snake nods slowly “Ok, so I’ll find you a mate, do you have one in mind?” I’d imagine it’s a snake of some kind??

“Yesssssss, sssshesss ravissshing. Ssssshe livessss in the lava in a dwarven ccccity” Watching the giant snake squirm, eyes closed in what I imagine is pleasure...is less than pleasent not going to lie.

“Ehzmaldiji? The living Lava of Kordash?” Tikari squeaks out “She's real?” She then asks the bog snake with a hissing abyssal. How does she know it better than me!?

It nods

She nods at the snake and then turns back to me “Joat, we HAVE to go to that city.” She practically jumps at me in excitement

“Ok ok, yeesh canlm down, what’s so exciting.”

“Ehzmaldiji is one of the living legends of Kordash, it’s supposed to be a myth. But this confirms that she’s real. Do you know how cool it would be to find a living legend” I mean I think Nightbird is one but I guesss she has a point.

“Ok, sounds like it would be a pretty cool adventure. But you know we still have to save the girl, and wait for the others.”

“The others will catch up with us pretty quick and Dally would be mad if I wasted my time here just waiting for them. Come on, its an adventure!” Her eyes are twinkling with excitement, gosh she must have been bored. “And Kaibaq says he’ll trade the girl for a mate” Wait when'd she get his name?

So we have to do it if we want to save the girl, oh why did I get myself mixed up in this mess.

“Ok, but Hargot…Hargot” The orc’s still clutching himself and mumbling.

Going over to him and giving him a sharp slap on the head, he looks up at me tears, streaming down his face.

Having Tikari ask a few questions to Kaibaq, I slap some sense into the quivering Orc

“Look Hargot. You’re going to stay here, and protect Kayla while we settle things with the giant snake. It won’t eat you, but don’t piss it off. And keep the girl safe. Understand me. We should be gone a week and maybe a little bit more. All you have to do is keep the girl safe-”

“She’s in a cropping just a little south of here, tied to a stump. If she or you run, Kaibaq will eat both of you” Tikari helpfully adds

“-you can do it, just believe in yourself. Now bye” Standing up, I sigh heavily at the blue screen that dings in front of me

HOSTAGE SITUATION: Kaibaq’s Mate

Kaibaq, a Serpent of the Swamp has given you his demands; a mate for him in trade for the girl Kayla.

There is no time limit on the situation, but that may change.

System’s not even going to lie about it being a quest, whoop de doo.

“Right, guess we’re off to that bleeding city.”

“Yeeeees I’ve been looking forward to an adventure for aaaages”

“Remember the last one we had”

“Ok, a bit less scary than the last one”

“We’re going to meet a fricking lava snake, I assume”

“I see your point, but it’s a legend”

“Didn’t you call it a myth?”

“Myth and legend are pretty much the same thing”

“I’m pretty sure Zzoid would be lecturing your ears off about the differences right now ‘Loreseeker’”

"From what I know of him, you're probably right. And actually this is super important for my class”

“Really?”

“Think about it, my class name is literally seeking out lore, like myths and legends”

“Oh. OH, so what do you get if you do?”

“No idea but it gave me the abyssal language when I translated the legend of Ehzmaldiji and the class”

“Interesting, well got anyone to pass on the message to the others since knowing the universe we won’t be back for at least a week”

“Already sent it to a couple of people. Come on lets go on an adventure!!!” She’s way too excited about what is probably going to be utter chaos.

Wait why am I not excited for this, gah maybe I’m just a little stressed.

*slap*

Ok to a new adventure!!

Also how in Aiags name did that all happen in less than 20 minutes after getting into town?