~ 15 ~

~ 15 ~

The letter was from Boris, and it held the information he had promised Joe weeks ago. Joe ran his eyes over it again as his team walked along, pleased as punch that he had come this direction before; it would help him gain an edge over someone else that had caused trouble for Boris.

Joe, 

It appears that there may be an item that will allow you to specialize your current class into a higher one. It may be a type of book, a stone tablet, or another similar item that holds knowledge. There is only one thing that I am certain of:

This item is single use.

If you don't get it first, there is a strong possibility that someone else will. I am sorry to say that after finding this information, I returned to my desk and found that someone had gone through my notes. I suspect a group called the ‘Upright Men’ or some such nonsense. They are a guild of thieves that have been a plague on this city for decades. 

I have included a small map that should get you close to where this item has been hidden. It will be up to you from here on. 

Best of luck, Boris.

“Ya know, Joe,” Bard grunted around a slab of meat he had pulled out of a sack, “Ah think it’s odd that tha Guild is givin’ us quests and fat rewards for helpin’ ya get yer class upgrade.”

“I think they really want him gone!” Jaxon cheerfully stated, giving Joe a thumbs-up. “When he gets to the next zone, he can be his usual workaholic self and he won't have to worry about stepping on the toes of the Guild’s investors. They will never go to the next area, so they might as well be totally separate guilds!”

“You know what, Jaxon?” Joe grinned conspiratorially, “I think I like that idea a whole heck of a lot. Oh no, they want me to go to a place that only competent people can even get into! Not that! Anything but being surrounded by the hard-working members of the guild…!”

“I think that I found what I need to do to get into my next class too, which means that we should be able to go together!” Jaxon continued after nodding along gravely. “I got a job in the palace learning from the Royal Masseuse, and the Royal Tamer! If I can get all of those skills and find a good way to combine them, I’m sure that I’ll be able to get my next specialization.”

“I have plans for my class as well.” Poppy let a wicked smile spread across his face. “But you’re just gonna need to wait and see.”

“I’m totally stumped on how to proceed.” Alexis admitted carefully. “I think Bard is, too. We’ve been looking for ways forward, but either there isn't someone on our same path, or they are hidden pretty hard. I think that a likely progression for me is into an Assassin class, and they aren't showing up and making an offer.”

“Ahm still banned from the Bardic College.” Bard grumbled. “Apparently, I got the attention of the Deity of Bards, and since he likes me… ahm not allowed back into the place.”

“That’s some backward logic, isn't it?” Joe spread his arms in anger. “It the freaking God of Music likes you; you get banned?”

“Nah. It’s the Deity of Bards.” Bard explained, “Apparently the guy hates Bards. So, they use tha’ knowledge as ah litmus test. He likes ya, yer out. He hates ya, you are clearly doin’ sommat right.”

“Weird.” Jaxon chimed in.

“I heard that he didn't want to be the Deity of Bards, he was forced into the role.” Alexis told them. “Apparently Hansel was some form of Assassin that got immortalized in song, and somehow gained a ton of power from that.”

“Wait… is this the same one from the song I keep hearing in taverns?” Poppy furrowed his brow, then snapped his fingers, “Dangerlicious! Is that the one?”

“Yup.” Bard sighed dramatically. “Cause o’ that, ahm stuck in my spot with nowhere ta turn.”

“Don’t worry, Bard.” Joe patted the man on the arm. “I’m sure we can get something with the Pathfinder’s Hall. Eventually the Bardic College will come in range, and we’ll get all the information on every current classer in there. Same deal with an assassin ring, Alexis. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Where are we going right now anyway?” Jaxon questioned Joe directly. “I know almost nothing about this trip.”

“Ah. Let me gather my thoughts.” Joe pulled up his status screen and ran over the information he had available. Looks like we are going to the south-eastern coast, and we need to find a temple that held ancient secrets. Likely that means we are running straight at a dungeon, but whatever. Right now we are going to swing by the guild we rescued when we came to the forest of Chlorophyll Chaos, the… Golden Greens. Yeah, specifically I want to see what Teddy is up to these days.”

An hour later, they found signs of the land being worked, and there were some impressive fields that had been plowed and planted. The crops in them were growing at a pace that was noticeable, and Joe had to assume that there was magic involved. Par for the course in Eternium. They met with a few people guarding a small village, and after a few messages were sent back and forth, the group was given a place to stay and Joe went to talk with Teddy. 

They discussed how things were going, and made plans to talk more in the future. The Guild hadn't seen anything odd in recent days, which gave Joe hope for getting ahead of whoever else had this information. Since they were already fairly close to the coast by now - so long as they went east to the water and not south to the forest - another point of interest came up.

“We found a small shrine just off the road, about halfway from here to the sea.” Teddy leaned in and gave him a knowing look. “If we can guide you there, you think you could go ahead and convert it? It’d make a good respawn location, way closer than the other one where you saved a bunch of us the last time we met. Also, that would knock a huge amount of time off our trips to Ardania.”

“Of course.” Joe was surprised by her earnestness. “Is this such a huge issue for you?”

“Yup.” Teddy sat back with obvious relief. “Most of our guild is noncombatants, so that walk means that a death can lead to three more for them. Oh, I also have a slew of clerics that follow Tatum now, and they were hoping you could find a place for them?”

“What!” Joe almost jumped out of his seat in his excitement. “Where! I, oh, right. Yes, I have huge positions for them. I have a mid-sized temple that needs a permanent person, and a Cathedral that is sitting empty and in the middle of nowhere that really needs people in it to run things.”

“Perfect, because I have a few introverts that want to hang out in lonely buildings.” Teddy stated seriously. “I’ll have them guide you to the shrine, and then you can show them to their new station? As long as they can come visit every once in a while, they’ll maintain their position in the guild.

The night came to an end a short while later, and the two parted ways. Joe slept excellently, and in the morning they set off with a small contingent of people that were dressed in robes. Jaxon was distrustful of them, and kept making biting motions at them with his hands. Since none of the new people had any idea what that meant, they simply stayed away from the strange man.

Converting the shrine was easy with so many clerics, because it seemed that they could all pool their mana for the event. Even better, after doing it once, they all got a skill that allowed them to convert structures for Tatum on their own. From there, Joe popped them to the Cathedral or the temple based on their preference. He was about to leave when one man stopped him with a question.

“My apologies, but I am wondering how I can get a sigil like the one you wear?”

Joe simply returned a confused glance, then looked at where the man was pointing. Above his heart was a small rotating hologram that was a combination of his guild icon and Tatum’s symbology. “Oh. That was pointed out to me by Tatum, but I think any of us can equip sigils in our sigil tab.”

“Sigil tab?” The man repeated. His eyes grew wide, and then he winked at Joe. “Got access to it! Sneaky way of keeping people from knowing everything, I’ll make sure the others know to keep it to ourselves.”

“No, wait-”

“After all, double reputation with a deity is hard to get.” The man was lost in his own world already, and Joe was suddenly glad this one was staying at the Cathedral. “We’ll get so many more options for spells when we level up than other clerics will!”

“I… hadn't thought about that, actually.” Joe nodded slowly. “Good call.”

Thinking about the different buildings he had been in made Joe wonder about his quest to free Tatum. He brought up the quest tab and nodded. Solid progress.

Paying a Great Debt. Current progress: 1,080,550/13,000,000. Current sources of divine energy: Altars: 5. Shrines: 11. Temples (small): 0. Temples (mid-sized): 1. Temples (grand): 1. Champions defeated: 1. Followers: 182.

“Hmm. I wonder how I can speed that up?” Lost in thought, he selected to teleport away. In the next instant, Joe was back with his party in front of the newly converted shrine. “Looks like we have a nice way back home now.”

“Sounds good to me.” Poppy turned and led the way back to the road. To Joe’s great concern, there was a new group of people traveling along it. One was a man that looked almost like a member of the Three Musketeers, with fancy clothing and a foppish feathered hat. There was an obvious mage, monk, assassin, and heavy close-range fighter as well.

There was something about this group that made Joe’s senses tingle, and there was a primal part of him that was screaming at him to kill these people before they got too close. Before he could make a choice on what to do next, the man in a foppish hat waved at them and called out.

“Hello there! I’m Sam, nice to meet you. You wouldn't have happened to see any temple ruins around here, would you?”

Joe narrowed his eyes and looked the man over. Something about his smug face just seemed so… punchable. “Hello, Sam. I’m Joe. Can I say, you really look like an Upright Man.”

Sam’s face shifted, and Joe knew that he had been correct. These were the people that had gone through Boris’s papers… and Joe he knew that he needed to die.