We had just begun browsing the catalogue of Vaulted items when the door opened again and Jules stepped out, blinking in surprise, followed by Abernathy.

  “Had to be the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone select an item. No group review of the selections or anything.” She mumbled to herself as she walked out, looking around. “Alright! Let’s go back to the lobby. Can’t be in the vault unless you have a reason.”

  “Not even to browse the catalogues?” Katarina asked. She sounded disappointed.

  “Sorry, Guild procedure. Can only review the Catalogues before making your selection. Oh no! I should have said that first! I’m so sorry!” She turned and looked to Abe, her eyes large. She vibrated, her voice wavering. “Do you want to go back in and replace the item? Take time to review the list with your party? It’s technically against the rules, but it should be okay.”

  One of the enchanted suits of armor shifted slightly. She glanced over in its direction and glanced back, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. “It… should be okay.”

  “No, no, it’s alright. No worries, Jules. This is what we needed.” Abernathy smiled, holding a small white orb in one hand. I stepped forward and inspected it.

  Pearl of Purification. Rare Item. Unique Item. Emits a thirty-foot aura that nullifies any external harmful effects for the wielder and all party members. Contains mana, which it uses to produce the field of purification. Increased usage requires increased mana. Can be refilled with Magic Points. Will break if mana storage falls below 10%. Too much strain, such as use to negate physical damage, will break the item. Requires specific intent from bearer to provide protection, does not provide blanket protection.

  “That is an incredibly powerful item.” I said as we turned and followed Jules out of the vault. Sebastian was all but drooling over it.

  “Aye, and I think I can make something to help focus it’s aura. Rig it up to a mana stone, if we can find a big enough one in the market. Should make the mana consumption more efficient.” Abernathy didn’t notice Jules waving at him as we made our way out of the Guildhall.

  I nudged him, cocking my head back towards her. He looked over at her with a vacant expression, then jumped as he came back to the present. “Oh! Bye Jules! Thanks again!” He waved.

  “I get off in an hour!! Meet back here?” She called, waving again with renewed energy.

  “He’ll be here!” Katarina replied, turning to wave. “I’ll make sure of it!”

  “We should be able to find a mana stone in the market.” Sebastian said as we stepped back into the intense heat of the desert sun.

  “Oh, right!” I chimed in. “You’ve been here a few days! Do you mind showing us around?”

  “Not at all. It won’t take long. Arid Spur isn’t exactly a metropolis. Bornholdt Keep is much, much larger. The market is this way.” He turned to the right, leading us in the direction Dulin had indicated on our brief tour.

  “Where’ve you been staying?” Katarina asked as we made our way through the town. The number of people walking around, mostly polecat beastkin and dwarves, were much less than in Verdantbrook, but they all seemed friendly enough, waving or nodding to us as we passed.

  “Only one in the city. The Oasis. Kinda funny, considering the name of the place we are going to be headed for the quest. It’s not bad. Food is decent. Rooms are… rooms.”

  “I was wondering.” I said as he tapered off. “How is it, being an aquatic elf? Especially out here in the desert?”

  “It sucks.” He sighed, taking a long pull from a water skin. “Luckily I have this.”

  He held up a hand, displaying a simple band of turquoise equipped to his forefinger. “Started with it, since I didn’t spawn in the underwater city of Elthros, the capital for aquatic elves. It keeps my body hydrated and helps me breath air as long as I am properly hydrated. I’d be screwed if our inventory didn’t allow us to hold so much water.”

  “So you don’t normally breathe air?” Abernathy asked, looking around at Sebastian.

  He nodded, pulling aside the neck of his robe to reveal three gill slits on each side of his neck. They were closed tight at the moment, the edges a deep green.

  “I can breathe air too, but it’s uncomfortable without this ring. Was curious, so I tried taking it off once. Felt like I was breathing fire. Hurt like heck. The ring keeps everything comfortable. Just have to drink about a gallon of water an hour in this dry environment.”

  “So you started in Bornholt Keep?” I asked.

  “No, there is a smaller city to the north of the Keep, Heddleflow. It’s a lake city, built half on and half off the lake. It’s about halfway between the Keep and the northern coast, where Elthros is.”

  “What made you go to the Keep, instead of up north?”

  “Oh the area between the lake city and the coast is… a lot more dangerous. Half of the tribal races make their homes in the plains up there. None of the players that started in Heddleflow and tried making the journey ever came back. There were ample warnings about how dangerous it is but… a lot of people that chose aquatic elf were impatient to see the underwater city. Ignored the warnings. Never came back.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  He shrugged. “Maybe they made it, who knows. Wasn’t worth the risk to me. I wasn’t stubborn. Grouped up and followed the mission south to the keep.”

  “Were there a lot of players where you started?” Katarina asked. “I don’t think there were more than a dozen in Verdantbrook, that I saw.”

  Abe nodded. “Yeah, not a lot. I’ve been wondering where all ten thousand of the testers are. Must be a huge world.”

  “I think there were about two dozen of us. Not all aquatic elves. Some beastkin too. Otter, mostly. A few beavers. About half of them went north. I had a party of six that went to the keep and separated. Found another group to come out here. Haven’t had much luck with parties. How about you all?”

  None of us responded for several seconds as we remembered our party. Screams in the night. Blood on the wind. My heart knotted with the pain of remembrance.

  “We had a party in Verdantbrook,” I spoke slowly, sorrow tinging my words and slicing through Sebastian’s exuberant expression. He glanced among us, sensed the pain, and sobered. I continued. “Four of them didn’t make it. Arlo, Elsetha, Hannah and Tobias. We were ambushed on an escort mission and…”

  I trailed off, unsure of how to continue. “Let’s focus on shopping for now, yeah?” I noticed banners proclaiming a variety of goods waving in the wind ahead. “We can talk about our friends and what happened later.”

  Sebastian nodded, as did Katarina and Abernathy. I wiped moisture from my eyes and sniffed, looking ahead.

  “But they are missed dearly. I will say that much, now. I don’t think we will ever find such amazing people again.”

  “Cheers to that, mate.” Abernathy agreed.

  “100%,” Katarina added, glancing at me with a small, sad smile.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Sebastian intoned, looking between us. “But I am also glad to have met you all. You seem like good people. Now, mana stone, right? I hope you have some gold, they aren’t cheap. Right this way.”

  Sebastian led us to a small building that had been painted a dark red, almost brown, color. Trim around the wide windows and door was painted a jarring blue-green, as well as the large door itself. A large sign affixed to the front, bolted in above the door, read Arjay’s Magicks in a flowing golden script that glittered in the afternoon sunlight.

  “The proprietor is a bit… odd. But it’s basically the only magical supply store in the village. They have a good selection of books too, surprisingly.” Sebastian pulled open the large blue door and gestured for us to enter. I nodded my thanks as I stepped into the interior of the building.

  Arjay’s Magicks was sectioned off into two parts. The front section of the store had multiple chest-high display cases and shelves lined with a number of magical implements ranging from potions to staves and wands. The walls were lined with smaller shelves, littered with a variety of bones that shone white under the multiple orbs of cool luminescence that hung from chains near the ceiling.

  A counter cut the room in half parallel with the front door, with a ten foot wide gap that led to the back half of the store, which was slightly darker and completely filled with shelves upon shelves of books from the floor to the ceiling. Wheeled ladders adorned the edge of each aisle.

  A gnomish man with vibrant blue hair and a blood red beard rolled into the central aisle on one of the ladders in the back of the store as a tinkling bell over the door announced our arrival. He wore a blue suit and had a golden monocle stuck in one eye.

  “Welcome!” He yelled, dragging out the ‘e’. His voice was high and nasally and absolutely brimming with excitement. He leapt from the ladder before it fully stopped, landing awkwardly and falling over for a second. He caught himself, laughing, and jogged over to us with his hands outstretched. “Sebastian! Welcome back! And you brought friends! How wonderful! How Fantastic! How absolutely exciting!!! Welcome! Welcome! Pleased to meet you! I’m Arjayfackleheim, but my friends call me Arjay! Won’t you be my friends?”

  He said the last part while opening his eyes wide and tucking his fists up under his beard, turning his head to the side in a pleading gesture that made me fight back a laugh. He seemed so sincere, I didn’t want to offend him.

  Katarina laughed, from deep in her belly. “Arjay! Lovely name and lovely business you have here! It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

  Arjay whooped, jumping a little and fist pumping the air. “Thank you, thank you! That’s what it’s all about, right? Friends and business! Glad you’re happy with my stock. Please, feel free to look around. Anything you are looking for today? I have a wide selection of magical supplies and, more importantly, reading materials! Books, the sweet nectar of life. So sweet.”

  He spoke in a rush of words, fueled by some deep energy that both amazed me and boggled my mind at once. His eyes danced across our faces as he spoke, lingering on Encore for a moment before continuing to look at the others. He jerked his head around a second later, his eyes going wide.

  “Oh my! You wouldn’t happen to be a kitsiho would you!?” He took a few steps closer, a wide smile splitting his deep red beard.

  “I am,” Encore replied. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Oh my, oh my! Merciful pages of the lost tome be praised, I have longed to meet one of your kind! I wrote a series, The Kitsiho Chronicles, that is read by dozens of adoring fans here in the Spur! I would be happy to sign any copies of my books that you purchase, free of charge!”

  “That is quite generous,” Encore bowed his head from my shoulder in thanks. “Please tell me, are they historical tellings?”

  “Oh, well no. I’m sure you know, oh fabled mythical Kitsiho, how shrouded in mystery your kind are! They are travelogue adventures of my own imagining. But they are quite good, if I don’t say so myself!! I must say though… I imagined kitsiho to be bigger.”

  Encore hopped from my shoulder, growing to his normal size as he landed on the ground. His tails rose and fell in a mesmerizing display. “We are able to adjust our size.”

  “Oh my! That is splendid! I always heard, but to see it! I am so glad it is true! Oh, I have so many questions! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

  “I am happy to answer your questions.” Encore sat, his tails wrapping him from both sides.

  “Um, before you get into that,” Abernathy intoned, just as Arjay was taking a breath and about to let loose another barrage of words. “Do you have mana crystals?”