I thought back to my conversation with the Guild Master. Cahl was the only mentor I would be able to get in this city. The next sizable city was likely far away, and while I could probably pay for safe travel with the Silver I had gotten from the mission helping Cataryn, I wasn’t ready to give up and move to another city to begin my adventure guild journey quite yet.

  “Please, I need your help. You’re my only chance.”

  Cahl’s eyes, which had drifted closed, opened slightly. I saw something in them—a deep pain, maybe. Having just met him, it was difficult to gauge, but there was something there.

  “‘No’ means ‘no,’ kid. Get lost.” His eyes drifted closed again, and he started snoring. The speed with which he went from speaking to snoring was suspicious.

  “I’ll clear your tab if you just give me a chance,” I said to the snoring half elf. His snores ended abruptly and he lifted his head, looking at me.

  “Clear my tab and bring me another. Then we’ll talk.”

  I walked over to the bar, where Owry was wiping down the glasses he had just finished cleaning.

  “How much is Cahl’s tab?” I asked. Owry laughed.

  “Got ya payin’ already? That Goldenpuddle’s got a way with words, hah! Got a way with drinkin’, too. His tab’s at four Silver.”

  The number shocked me. I had a basic understanding of how money worked in Veil, after buying the street food the day before. Ten Copper made up one Silver. If the drinks were two Copper each, that was twenty mugs of ale worth of alcohol.

  I sighed, wondering what I was getting myself into as I pulled out four Silver and two Copper.

  “And another, please,” I said. “How old is that tab?”

  “Started with the rising sun when he got here, as far as me wife tells it.” He passed over the filled mug. “Man can put away alcohol. Me best customer!”

  I took the flagon of ale back to Cahl’s table, stunned at the quantity of alcohol he consumed. He lifted his head as I approached, taking the mug. Our fingers touched, and I felt a different haptic buzz than I had felt before, more dissonant.

  Error! Absorb Essence Failed. Insufficient Level.

  His eyes widened slightly for a moment, so briefly I wondered if it had even happened, before he once again downed an entire pint of ale in one go, belching and slamming the stein on the table.

  “Alright,” he said, standing and swaying. “Okay. Alright. Whoa, one second. World needs to… stop spinning… okay.”

  He ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his temples before looking at me. For the first time since Owry had introduced me to Cahl, I felt him actually looking at me, not just through me.

  It was the first time he actually looked at anything. His eyes were green, with a faint circle of gold around the iris. His gaze lingered on the emblem I had received from Moswynd for a moment.

  “What did you want, again?” he asked. His speech, slurred and mumbled as it was, conflicted with the sharp clarity of his gaze.

  “I need your referral to apply to the adventurer’s guild. Your mentorship.”

  “Right. Right.” He started walking towards the exit. I followed, waving to Owry. The dwarven man waved back, calling out.

  “Yer welcome back anytime!”

  We walked out of the bar and into the afternoon sun. Cahl continued walking, turning right and making his way down the street. I continued following, and eventually he spoke again.

  “Where’d you get that emblem on your lute strap?”

  “I helped a kidnapped girl, took her home. They were thankful and threw a party to celebrate. Her dad gave me this.” I ran my finger over the emblem, remembering the celebrations the night before with a small smile.

  “What was the girl’s name?”

  “Cataryn, why?”

  “Cataryn Oaken?” He asked, stopping.

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  “Yes, her father, Telko, gave me the emblem.”

  “I see.” He resumed walking, more quickly now — I hurried after.

  We walked in silence for several minutes, Cahl taking progressively narrower side roads, until we stopped in front of a ramshackle shanty barely held together with rusted nails and bits of twine. The doors and windows were old sheets that fluttered in the wind.

  “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

  He pushed the dirty fabric acting as the front door aside and stepped within. I heard a muffled conversation that transitioned into a deep woman’s voice screaming profanities.

  Cahl leapt out of one of the upper floor windows, the fabric catching on his arm and tearing as he fell. An assortment of cooking instruments were flung after him.

  A bearded dwarven woman poked her head out of the opening, continuing to curse and yell. Cahl landed in a graceful roll, standing and swinging a worn pack across his back. A large skillet flew from above, hitting him squarely on the head with a thunk before falling to the ground. He paid it no mind and had no reaction, as if it were no more than a fly.

  “Better be off quickly. Marge is a little upset.”

  I looked down at the skillet, which had a large dent roughly the same dimensions as Cahl’s head, before following as he began running away. I was thankful for the pace, as several large cooking knives now sailed out of the window and sank blade-first into the earthy ground of the alley.

  We jogged for a few blocks before stopping.

  “Should be fine now. She’s got a helluva arm on her, but even Marge can't get us from here. I need to look into something. I will return tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a task for you to complete. If you complete the task, I may consider mentoring you. May.” He pulled his pack over and started rummaging within, producing a small wooden box and a metal flask.

  “Adventuring is dangerous.” He twisted the top off of the flask, took a swig, and recapped it before sliding it back in his pack. “Prove you got the guts and I’ll consider; don’t want to waste my time on someone that’s going to die in the first week. Here.”

  He handed me the small box.

  “Take this to Henrietta — tell her I sent you. She lives in a small cabin along the coastal cliffs to the north of town. When you leave the northern gates, turn right. Follow the city walls until you reach the coast.” I noticed the slur gradually leaving Cahl’s words as he spoke, as if he were rapidly sobering.

  “Follow the coast. Beware the wildlife. Keep the ocean in sight and travel north. If you don’t find her, she will find you. Meet me tomorrow evening at the Fisherman’s Daughter.”

  Quest Update! Obtain a Mentor and referral to join the Adventurer’s Guild. Complete Cahl’s task and return to the Fisherman’s Daughter at the appointed time. Reward: Adventurer’s Guild Membership, 1 Copper Adventurer’s Chest, Copper Coins 10x, 1,000 Experience points.

  I followed Cahl’s directions out of the city and to the coast. The rocky shore gradually rose into a seaside cliff as I traveled. Ocean waves crashed against the steep cliff face far below. Forest gradually overtook the barren rock.

  A few squirrels and ocean birds were the only living things I saw for nearly an hour, as I made my way deeper into the forest. I pulled up my map and saw that Moswynd lay further up the coast, but due to the curving nature of the coastal cliffs, it would take four times as long to walk there, taking this route. A blinking quest notification lay halfway up the cliff, between where I stood and Moswynd.

  There was no path or trail along the cliff’s edge. I carefully picked my way through an increasingly dense forest, keeping the ocean in sight on my right. I also kept a careful eye out for anything dangerous.

  I first noticed the silky white webs from a distance, as the cliffs circled in on themselves in sections. This portion of cliffside dipped inland like a ‘U,’ and great swaths of thick webbing coated the forest on the far side.

  “Ugh, I hate spiders.”

  I made my way around the bend of the cliff. My initial thought, of burning the web away, was quickly dismissed, as I imagined Moswynd being consumed by flames. The last thing I wanted was to cause a forest fire.

  The webs stretched between trees and limbs high overhead. Numerous pods of webbed creatures adorned the webbing, very few moving. I wondered what was being caught in the web, as I carefully made my way through, finding paths of unwebbed forest to traverse, when I saw one of the ocean birds struggling in a bit of web further ahead.

  I stopped moving and ducked behind a large section of exposed root as a giant spider scurried from the forest, traversing the network of webs with terrifying speed. It was the size of a large dog, and encased the doomed bird in a few quick motions, plunging two large fangs into the cocoon.

  A high-pitched, bestial cry sounded from within the forest. I noticed several strands of webbing quiver, and the spider sped into the deepening gloom of the forest in the direction of the cry.

  The sounds were almost like barking yips, a sound that tickled the edge of familiarity in my mind. I could feel terror and outrage in those sounds, like a tangible fist gripping my chest.

  I hurried after the spider. For the most part, the webs didn’t start until six or eight feet up on the foliage, so it wasn't difficult for me to avoid them.

  The spider’s newest victim struggled in the web, gnashing sharp fangs that clicked audibly each time the spider attempted to approach.

  It was a fox, with long white hair that was tangled in the filthy webbing. Multiple tails thrashed, trapping the creature further as it jerked its entire body in fits, just barely managing to keep the spider at bay.

  Two large pairs of feathered wings bent at unnatural angles from the fox’s back, twisted in the web. A bone protruded from one of the wings, staining the feathers, fur, and webbing around it a deep red. The fox’s eyes were wide in terror, pain and fury. Foamy spittle flew from its mouth with each violent snap.

  The spider danced around the flailing, winged, multi-tailed fox. The struggles were only worsening the fox’s entanglement in the web. I examined the fox more closely, reading the information that was displayed. After reading the description, I knew I needed to intervene.