“What’s happening?” Reina yelled over the loud chanting.

  “This is one song of the deep. Riptide. It will summon us to a place of comfort.” Maki looked hopeful. “Probably back to the Swiftscale docks.” She walked through the portal with the limping Troy.

  The sight of Troy steeled Rook’s resolve, despite his apprehension about portals. He stepped in behind them. Inside the portal space, Rook was surrounded by blue. Dark and enveloping. Beginning to feel claustrophobic, he hurriedly marched through until he popped out the other side, landing on hard cobble in the sunlight. Soon after Reina and the child.

  Cheering and applause came from all around. Medicine men quickly brought Troy to a hut on the water. Maki following close behind. Reina cooed with Nelios, causing several belly laughs. Never did I think I would be so happy to see the docks. Rook stood up with a grimace. He would need a strong herbal soak to rest his tired muscles.

  Reina handed off Nelios to a sobbing Uldannish woman, who gave the baby several kisses. Everything was happening so quickly, before they even had a chance to rest, they were ushered into the Chief’s longhouse.

  Maki gave a very detailed account of the events, from the beginning of mission acceptance to the end of mission success. At some point, they were joined by Troy, who was able to limp into the doorway.

  Maki jumped up, marching towards the Lieutenant and the Chief frowned at her. “Maki, he may be a guard, but—” The Chief began, but stopped when he saw her gingerly helping Troy to a bench and sitting beside him.

  * * *

  Maki spent the next several minutes explaining the mission, ensuring to highlight the party’s contributions, to which the chief just stroked his beard, regarding them curiously.

  “Sentinel Jody, Rook, Reina, Lieutenant Hannor. I am in your debt, the Swiftscale tribe is in your debt.” He stood up and gave a short bow. He turned to Maki and Troy. “We will speak later, Maki.’

  “Yes, father.”

  Quest complete Bayside Situation.

  Rewards 500 experience

  +2 Core Attribute

  500 experience of 650 until level 11

  “Say, what did that necklace do?” Rook asked, remembering the Locket of Lady Joan Cunning (Diamond) (Unusable).

  “I’ll share it,” Reina responded.

  Locket of Lady Joan Cunning (Diamond) (Unusable)

  The Locket of Lady Joan Cunning, is a Diamond Ranked necklace, belonging to the famous warrior princess.

  Makes Parrying easier

  Weak points revealed to the user

  Bladed weapon proficiency increased

  “Well, holy shit,” Rook said regarding her. “Not only that, but it’s beautiful,” he said, looking at Reina proudly displaying the priceless necklace. At the base of the necklace was a ruby set into silver and attached to a silver chain.

  The three walked back the way they came, through the veil covering the docks as the early morning sun rose. Jody looked over at them and gave a contented grunt before pulling out his pipe.

  “I call this Sentinel quest a success,” he said, packing his pipe. “You have more to go, if you’re to get the title of Initiate.”

  “You going to tell Reina, or am I, Jody?” Rook asked, crossing his arms as he walked.

  “Tell me what?” Reina asked, looking from Rook to Jody.

  “Aye, I guess that’s fair. I am not only your guide to the quest giver, but I am you’re evaluator. How you act and respond to situations is what I’m here for. I was extremely jealous of the fighting earlier, so I had to intervene. However, don’t get used to it.”

  Reina seemed to mull the words over in her head. “I was wondering why you didn’t join in, but I guess that makes perfect sense now.”

  “I want to conduct an after-battle report. Starting with the basics of the quest, then move into how we could have changed the way that went, and I’ll give you some notes on improvements,” Jody said, taking a drag from the pipe.

  “We needed to save the boy,” Rook began. “He was in an underground temple. We found cultists and fought them.”

  “Using your sneak and your Attramancy, right. Then Reina, you came in sword blazing a path through the lot.”

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  Reina smiled, but that was quickly shut down.

  “You fought like an overconfident fool. On top of that, how much did you catalog? Your answer may very well choose the path of a Scribe moving forward,” Jody said, not looking at the enhancer.

  “I memorized it all, I never forget a thing I’ve seen, and I’ll catalog the journey when we return to the Stumbling Ogre,” Reina said. “And another thing, my skills saved me today, as much as Rook did. So don’t doubt my abilities, Jody.”

  “Wonderful answer,” Jody said with a smile. “Rook, you rely too much on your strength. If you want to die, then by all means continue that way of fighting. However, you have a strong magic, some of which I’ve never seen before. Use that and become a warrior, or neglect it and become a corpse,” Jody said, his words flat.

  They walked, making small conversation until the welcoming doors of the Stumbling Ogre stood in front of them. One thing’s for sure, I need to sleep.

  “I’ll be back in the morning, good work on today’s mission,” Jody said, with a nod before speed walking down the street and out of sight.

  ***

  After a quick dinner and bath, Rook climbed in bed and closed his eyes. Luckily enough for him sleep came quickly.

  Would you like to view daily summary?

  Yes/ No?

  Yes.

  Samuel Rook Merrell

  Level: 10

  Rank: Copper

  Current quests:

  Find the Sacred Cipher

  Join the Sentinels

  Join the Circuits

  +4 Core Attributes to allocate

  Strength level 3

  Dexterity level 3

  Arcane Wisdom level 5

  Charisma level 10

  Constitution level 3

  Which skills would you like to increase?

  Cool so I can do this in my summary as well. Rook placed three of the points into Arcane Wisdom and then one into Dexterity, bringing them to eight and four. If the stats worked like they did in video games, he could get a boost to both the accuracy of his shots and his mana pool. The daily summary was completed, and everything seemed to drift into a dream. He was peering through wooden bars.

  A railing? Prison?

  The dream faded to black, and when he came to, Reina was watching outside the window once again, smiling and giggling to herself. It was the same as the day before, when she watched the kids outside playing a game of tag. Rook stretched and poured himself a glass of water from the jug he had set out the night prior. The mission took a lot out of him days prior, but made him feel a hell of a lot more confident than he did in the past.

  “Sleep well?” Reina asked, grabbing the brush and bringing it to her short hair.

  Rook watched for a moment, realizing he probably looked like a creep, and cleared his throat. “Sorry, I spaced out.”

  “No problem, it doesn’t bother me. We’re a party, I wouldn’t choose to do so if I hated when you glanced my way.”

  Rook smiled. “Okay, right back at ya. And yes, I did sleep well. How about you?

  “Not too bad.” She yawned, drawing her arms up in a tall stretch. He was no longer zoned out, his eyes stole a glance at her exposed midriff, and he had to pretend his fingernails were fascinating until she finished.

  With a drawn-out groan, he got out of bed, letting his feet hit the cool wooden floor. “Let’s meet back here. I need to change, and you can use the room to get ready. Rook walked into the hallway towards the men’s bathing area.

  When he heard muffled talking inside. He wasn’t one to ear hustle a conversation, but the speaker was charismatic and didn’t break the word cadence. Instead, when Rook walked in, the man became more animated, attempting to beckon him over.

  Shit, if I needed to get hassled by a solicitor, I could’ve gone to the grocery store. Rook raised a hand nonchalantly. “Sorry, man, I’ve got places to be,” he said, working the ties to his sleepwear. He smiled, glancing down at the new outfit, a simple cloth tunic and pants, white and black, with black treaded boots.

  The man huffed, then set on a new target. “I was on a pilgrimage with the order when they attacked the caravan,” the man said more frantically.

  “Can’t help you there,” the voice of Borrin the Dwarf came. “I’m leaving on a silver rank today, can’t go out of the way for your bronze quest to kill some goblins.” He got a few laughs from a few of the rough-looking crowd.

  At a glance, Rook guessed them to be adventurers, here in Ollar to cash in bounties and take new quests from the bulletin board.

  “But really, there were goblins everywhere. Not just normal ones, they had a big monster with them.” He made a show of raising his hands up to amplify the effect. “Can anyone help me?”

  Rook felt bad for the man; he obviously needed help to clear the place. However, the cynical, untrusting nature his grandfather instilled in him led him to question the intentions of every person he encountered.

  The bathhouse quieted as the man sat down on a bench near Rook. He wrung his strange green hat, with a look of disdain, and Rook sighed. His long blonde hair draped over his sharp face. He had deep blue eyes beneath bushy eyebrows.

  “Hey man, what’s your name?” Rook asked, extending his hand.

  “Erik. Erik Lyones,” the man said, giving Rook a firm handshake, with a grip much tighter than Rook gave him credit for. On his hand was a tattoo of an eye.

  “Rook. Pleased to meet you.” Rook tried to give him a sympathetic smile. “Listen, Erik, I’m a level ten copper Rank. I’d love to help, but I’m a fledgling fighter and right now I am just trying to survive Yorthon.” Rook pulled the nightshirt over his head and started to fold it. “Besides, it’s just me and an enhancer.”

  “By the Old Gods. Are you in the sorcerer’s guild?” Erik asked with a hopeful smile, looking at the colorful neo-traditional tattoos that covered Rook’s arms and chest. His gaze lingered on the shoulder piece, a geometric design.

  Rook stared down at the compass, numerous skulls, daggers, and animals covering his upper body, and shook his head. “No, and before you ask, I’m a Sentinel Initiate and an Attramancer. Not really suited for fighting anyway, now you’re starting to creep me out with your staring.”

  “Right.” Erik’s face dropped slightly before regaining his determination. “I am an initiate of the order of the Old Gods, set on a mission to make pilgrimage to the temples of All Power,” he said the words with steel.

  Rook could immediately tell the speech was rehearsed.

  “So, if you’re an initiate, you have an evaluator?”

  “Yes. What are you getting at?” Rook asked, incredulously.

  “No reason, thanks for your time,” Erik said, looking a bit chipper as he walked out of the room.

  Hmm, maybe he was pleased to meet another dude like me. He walked out into the hallway. Rook inhaled the pleasant aroma of baking bread, and the same salty stew from last night was lingering in the air.

  Reina was leaning against the wooden wall in the same place she was last night. Jody stood beside her, speaking softly to Erik. Erik was wringing that hat once again in his hands, seeming to dodge eye contact with Jody. Sentinel’s reputation really precedes them.

  Her hair was done in braids. That showed off the soft lines of her face. She noticed Rook’s gaze and smiled. “Like ‘em? War braids.” She felt the length of thick interwoven locs running down the side of her head.

  “Alright, now that you both are here, I believe this man may have a quest worthy of Sentinel attention. Normally, I wouldn’t take a quest outside of our boards, but I think this man may have something worthy of our attention,” Jody said, with a yawn.

  Sentinel Quest

  Clear the Temple of All Power

  +2 core attributes

  300 experience

  Would you like to accept

  Y/N

  Yes. I don’t have a choice.