He pulled the satchel from his shoulders and ruffled within, pulling out a bundled bit of cloth bound in golden string. He placed a hand over the clasp holding the string together. It released with a soft chik. He wound the string, putting it in his pocket, and extended the cloak towards me, unfurling it and holding it up. It was an almost silky black material that shimmered with multi-hued colors as it shifted from the gentle ocean breeze.

  I looked from the cloak to Cahl, removing the lute and turning away. Cahl stepped forward and draped the cloak over my shoulders. It felt almost ceremonial. I reached up and locked the clasp in place as I inspected the cloak.

  Cloak of the Four Winds.

  Legendary Scaling Back Equipment.

  Requires attunement. +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, +1 Endurance. This is a scaling item, gaining strength as the wearer grows in level.

  Unique Skill: Breezestride. Required level: 5. For five seconds the user and anything willfully touched by the user weighing up to 1.5x the user’s weight, becomes the wind, granting incorporeal status, an increased movement speed, and flight. Ten-hour cool down. Cost: 5 mana.

  Attune this item?

  I selected yes, and felt a vague sense of protective familiarity from the cloak as I bonded to it. The ends extended slightly, the tightness along the shoulders and back loosened as the cloak shifted to fit my form.

  “It looks good on you,” Cahl said. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Not something I expected to see again, someone in that cloak.”

  “It’s amazing. Thank you.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “There is a benefit of attuned equipment that most people are unable to fully appreciate,” Cahl said. “That shifting, to fit your form? That is not a one-time-only thing. Attuned equipment always shifts to fit your form. Something to consider.” He smiled with a knowing glint in his eye.

  I refrained from asking him about his origins with a great effort of will.

  “Alright, here we are. And with a couple hours to spare before sundown. I’m going to go do some research. It’ll likely take a few days with how unorganized the Archives are here. They still use the Beamer System. Archaic. I’ll reach out once I have some more information. Be careful and keep practicing.”

  “Thank you, I will. Do you need any help with your research?”

  “No, no. I appreciate the offer, but your time will be better spent practicing your music and completing Adventure Guild missions. Trust me, you don’t want to spend the next couple days in a dusty library.”

  We both laughed, clasped hands, and went our separate ways.

  I made my way to the guild.

  Abernathy saw me enter the Adventurer’s Guild first and called me over, waving me to the front desk.

  “Ah, finally!” Arlo said. “We’ve been waiting for you!”

  “Sorry about that, had to go out of the city for a bit. Thanks for waiting!” I said.

  Another player stood with the group, a human woman with tan skin and almond eyes. Her hair was bound in a tight bun at the base of her neck and she wore leather armor cut to allow free range of movement.

  She smiled and nodded at my arrival. The nameplate that floated just over her head read Katarina.

  “Nice to meet you!” I said, shaking her hand and adding her as a contact.

  “And now she can be added to the group chat!” Hannah said.

  “Another human? Are you regretting it yet?”she asked. “I wasn’t expecting to be treated quite this badly.”

  “Ah, I, um.” I moved the conversation to text, to avoid being overheard.

  Chanter: I’m not actually a human. My race was randomized due to some glitch at character creation and I am a Changeling. I just took a human form first and haven’t changed. Too afraid an NPC might notice the change and try to kill me… again

  Katarina: Again? Changeling?? That wasn’t even an available option. Neither was random.

  Chanter: Yeah… it was a glitch of some kind. Apparently Changelings are killed on sight and have a large bounty on our heads.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Anyhow,” I said, “it is nice to meet you, Katarina. What class are you?”

  “Please, call me Kat. I’m an Aery Pugilist. I punch stuff and try not to get punched in return.” She smiled. I smiled back.

  “Cool!”

  “And what is your class?”

  “I’m a Bombastic Busker! I make things explode and try not to get exploded in the process. With music.” She laughed.

  Kleyn coughed into his hand, stepping towards the group. “The Guild Master would like to see the three of you, Arlo, Chanter, and Katarina.”

  We glanced between each other. “The three of us?” I asked, confused.

  Kleyn lifted his lip in a distasteful grimace. “That is what I said. This way, if you will.”

  “We’ll be right back!” Arlo said, “if we don’t end up in shackles because of something Chanter blew up!”

  “Hey, I’m not a part of their group. Why do I need to come?” Katarina asked Kleyn. She snarled at him, a dangerous look in her eyes. He glanced towards her, then averted his gaze and redirected his ire towards me.

  “Ask her. This way.” He said, turning and walking around the desk. He opened the door and began making his way towards the back, not waiting for us.

  “We’ll wait here!” Hannah said, “might check out the bar.”

  “I’ll work on some crafting.” Abernathy waved, turning to walk towards the crafting area.

  “I will ensure Hannah doesn’t imbibe too much, though I don’t see why I was not selected for this meeting.” Elsetha sniffed. “Tobias, care to join?”

  “Sure.” Lesh made a soft chittering sound of agreement as the three of them began walking towards the dining area of the guildhall and we turned to follow Kleyn.

  We caught up to him just as he was approaching the door to the Guild Master’s office. Arlo was familiar with the passages as well and I was curious about his history with Eldwyna Floreth, the elven Guild Master, but Kleyn opened the door to her office and gestured for the three of us to enter before I could ask.

  Eldwyna sat behind her desk, a parchment held open by two small paperweights of gold-gilded silver. She looked up from reading the parchment as we entered.

  “Excellent, thank you Kleyn.” She nodded a dismissal and he bowed, closing the door as he left.

  “Thank you for the prompt response to my summons,” she said. “It seems the timing is fortunate. I would prefer a more experienced party handle what we are about to discuss, but time is of the essence. It should be safe enough.”

  “What are you talking about?” Katarina asked.

  “Katarina, your mentor speaks very highly of your martial prowess. I am glad you were here, the party can use an Iron ranked adventurer.”

  My eyes widened. Iron rank? Wow, she must be strong. And in only a few days? She glanced over and caught me staring. Both of us blushed, looking back to the guild master.

  “Chanter, I asked you here for a different reason, but you worked well with the group in the catacombs, so I am requesting you join as well. Please place your Adventure Guild Emblem on the desk.”

  I pulled the brass chit from my inventory and placed it on the desk in confusion. She wouldn’t be taking my guild membership after saying she wanted to team up with Arlo and Katarina… right?

  She reached out and touched the emblem with a finger that glowed with a gentle silver energy. The emblem shifted, iron bleeding from her touch, changing the material. She slid it back towards me.

  “Words of your exploits in the service of Moswynd Village has spread. Everyone involved in the mission to cleanse the catacombs will be increased to brass, but your actions in thwarting the kidnappers, which Verdantbrook has been infested with as of late it would seem from reports, show a degree of skill beyond a brass rank.”

  She produced a small satchel and pushed it across the desk towards me. “I wanted to personally thank you for your service to both Verdantbrook and Moswynd, as well as present this. It is an additional reward provided by the people of Moswynd.”

  I took the fist-sized satchel, which contained Silver Coins x20 and a Hand-Drawn Note. I pulled out the note, which had several sections scratched out and re-written, reading it over quickly with a smile.

  Chan der ter,

  Thank you for helping me get home. I was sad when I woke up and yu you were gon gone. I hope yull you’ll come back soon.

  Cataryn

  The note had a yellow smudge surrounded by red, spiked lines. I laughed. She had scrawled a little note by the drawing that said boom coin.

  I placed the note to my inventory.

  “Got a secret admirer?” Katarina joked.

  “The note is from the child he saved from a group of kidnappers.” Eldwyna completely missed Katarina’s attempt at humor. “We have dispatched a team of investigators to track them down. They will be brought to justice, if they were foolish enough to remain in Verdantbrook or the surrounding areas.”

  “Oh, about that. They have been… dealt with. At least most of them. One of the weasel beastkin got away.

  Arlo and Katarina both looked at me with wide eyes.

  “Where did this occur? Do you have proof of kill?” Eldwyna stood, leaning over the desk.

  “They grabbed me and Abe — Abernathy — and tried bringing us west in cages. We got away on the road that leads west, outside of Verdantbrook.” I pulled the corpses from my inventory.

  Eldwyna looked at the corpses, her eyes widening in shock. Her face, a mask of confusion at their sudden appearance, went slack suddenly. Her eyes lost focus, her pupils blurring momentarily, like static on a tv.

  “I think you broke her,” Katarina whispered.