The diner was small and cramped, and the décor was dated. But the floors and tables were clean. Thankfully.

Vee and Alforde sat down across from Nen and Cris, and a towering kitrekin brought over a pair of wrinkled and stained menus. Everything on it looked like typical diner fare: greasy potatoes, roasted meat, pasta, soups, and sandwiches. Pretty much everything came with plenty of gravy. That was explicitly mentioned on the menus, for reasons Vee wasn't sure he wanted to know.

“Welcome in, lads,” the kitrekin said in a booming voice. He had orange fur and was missing the whiskers on the left side of his mouth. He was also missing one of his lower teeth, and so he looked silly when he smiled at Nen and Cris.

“Been a while since I last seen you two, eh? What sort of trouble has your old man had you getting involved with?”

The bandits shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” they chorused.

“Well, that’s good. Ordinary trouble is good trouble, that’s what I always say. Tell him Big Simon says hi when you next see him, eh? And who might you two be?”

Vee and Alforde introduced themselves, and the kitrekin bowed. Despite his big frame, he moved gracefully. “Huh. Not many new faces in town these days. Well, welcome to Oar’s Crest. My name is Simon. Nice to meet you. Since it's your first time in, I’ll give you all a few minutes to look over the menu.”

He returned shortly after and took their orders, and while Vee was a sandwich man through and through, he decided to venture out of his comfort zone and get the soup instead. Hopefully it didn't come with gravy.

[Adventurousness +1]

Vee raised his eyebrows at the alert. Really? He’d gotten another skill point just for ordering something different? That seemed a little…too easy. Back at the academy, he’d spent weeks, if not months grinding away to boost his stats, and since coming here he’d gotten two stat ups in as many days. That wasn't even including the fact that he’d unlocked an entirely new type of stat.

Vee’s [Second Sight] was still active, and he looked around the restaurant. Back behind the kitchen was a streak of blue that looked promising, but Vee had no way to get back there just then to examine it more closely, so he didn't pay it much attention. Other than that though, the diner was full of the same green ghosts that had been elsewhere in the city. Disappointing.

The food took less than a minute to arrive, thanks to the cook’s [Fast Reheat] skill. Simon seemed quite proud of this, but Vee wasn’t thrilled with the fact that the food hadn’t been cooked fresh. At least it tasted okay. His soup was spicy and he detected tomatoes and oregano among the flavors present, but couldn't identify any of the others.

[You have unlocked the Average Taster class, would you like to take it?]

Vee waved the prompt away and ate another spoonful of soup.

The rest of the meal was filled with small talk, and Simon came back once more to collect the two silver fleurs that Nen offered as payment once everyone was done. The kitrekin shook hands with Alforde and bowed to Vee.

“I don’t know how long you two are planning to stay in our humble city, but whenever you get hungry, please consider coming by again. The kitchen never closes, there’s always someone here, and as I’m sure you noticed, our prices are extremely affordable.”

Vee thanked him and followed the bandits out of the Grinning Pig but after a moment’s chitchat the boys turned to him and said that it was time for them to go home.

“Da used his [Call Home] skill while we were eating,” Nen explained. “He only does that when he doesn’t feel like tracking us down himself, so he’s probably still sore about his argument with Maryanne. Do you two have a place to stay for the night?”

Vee shook his head. “Well, uh, we planned to find a hotel or something once we arrived, but the money we had budgeted for the fee somehow ended up in your pocket, as did most of the things I could pawn to get more. We'll probalby have no choice but to sleep on the streets.”

[You have unlocked the Passive Aggressive Communicator class, would you like to take it?]

No. Just like always.

Nen tightened up, but his brother clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, bro. Give them a coin or two for the night. We’re not the kind of people who refuse to offer a helping hand to those in need, are we?”

Nen grunted, but did as his brother suggested. He tossed Vee a fleur and pointed down the road that ran south. “If you follow this road, you’ll eventually come to Sculla’s boarding house. It’s a big gray building without any broken windows. You’ll probably see an ogre sitting on the steps with a pipe. That’s Sculla. She’s a bit rough around the edges but she’ll let you stay in one of her rooms for cheap.”

“So long as you’re willing to work,” Cris said, and Nen nodded.

“That’s true. Sculla expects boarders to pull their weight when it comes to chores, but she’s honest and the rooms are clean.”

Vee breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the bandits for their help. He and Alforde were still basically screwed, unless this Sculla person was willing to let them stay for a while without any extra money, but facing the future with a full belly and a dry place to sleep for the night made it feel like things weren’t quite so bad.

“Oh, and there’s one other thing I forgot,” Nen said. “Make sure that you don’t go too far south. Here in Northtown, things are pretty safe, but the rest of the city is real dangerous. Lots of fiends and monsters living in the old buildings and all, and some of them eat people. Best to be safe and stay far away.”

Vee waited for a sign that the young bandit was joking, but Nen’s face looked like it had been carved from stone. “How will we know if we’ve gone too far south?”

“Big gate,” Cris said with a grin as he turned to leave. “Two [Bastions] stationed in front of it, and it says ‘Warning: Unsafe areas ahead. Citizens not allowed’ on top. Pretty hard to miss, to be honest.”

“That’s good to know!” Alforde said, completely earnestly. “We’ll have to make sure that we don’t go through it by accident.”

Cris and Nen just looked at him. For an uncomfortably long time.

“Well, be seeing you two then,” said Nen. The brothers walked past the Grinning Pig, turned the corner and vanished into the gloom. A shadow darted from one tree to the next, but Vee didn't pay it any mind.

It was starting to get late, and the sky was turning violet as the sun set behind the mountains. The air was starting to get cold and Vee rubbed his thin arms in an attempt to ward off the oncoming chill.

“We should get going. I'll be able to see my breath soon,” he told Alforde, and the armorsoul nodded. They walked down the street and there wasn’t a person in sight. A few stray dogs sniffed their way towards Vee, but when he shook his head and held up his empty hands, they backed away and returned to their pitiful forage.

Vee was starting to see bigger ghosts now, mostly centered around the small houses and piecemeal yards that they passed from time to time. Here, sitting on an abandoned tire-swing was the ghost of a happy family. There, next to a weathered bench with one broken armrest was a ghost of young love.

Alforde couldn’t see these spirits, but he could see the blue gleam near the pupils in his friend’s eyes and knew what it meant.

“Lots of heavy hitters here, huh?”

Vee nodded, and wiped his eyes to deactivate the skill because it was starting to hurt. Being a [Ghost Maestro] meant that he could feel the emotions of the spirits he saw and interacted with. Their triumphs and sorrows were like his own, and in a place like this, there were precious few triumphs to be found. Such an imbalance was heavy on his heart.

As Vee started to sink into a spiral of self-doubt and useless dithering about decisions already made, there was a noise from a nearby alley and a yellow glow filled the air.

The friends stopped and stared at it, and both took a step back as the glow congealed into an unmistakably monstrous hand which gestured for them to walk into the alley.

[You have been given a quest: Investigate the definitely not dangerous glow in the alley. Would you like to accept?]

“No way,” said Vee, but as he started to dismiss it a warning popped up and stayed his hand.

[There is no reward without risk. If you refuse this quest you’ll lose you Adventurousness stat, as will all spirits bound to you].

Now, Vee didn’t really know what the Adventurousness stat did, but he knew that he wanted to keep it. Extra stat categories were basically always good, and this was the first one he'd ever gotten.

“What do you think, Alforde? Should we –”

But before he could finish the question, Alforde was already walking into the alley. Vee sighed. Well, even though he didn’t have much of his equipment – and the things he had were all technically still inside Alforde’s chest so he didn't really have access to them – he was still a [Ghost Maestro]. Handling a wayward spirit shouldn’t be too bad.

Even if it was strong enough to give itself a physical form.

He accepted the quest and heard the soft chime of it starting in the back of his mind. He focused on the sensation and the quest window popped up in front of him.

[Quest: Investigate the definitely not dangerous glow in the alley.]

[Dangers: ???]

[Reward for completion: Maintain Adventurousness skill]

[Description: Go into the alley and see what the deal is with the yellow spirit. It’s probably not dangerous.]

The quest writing was…unusually frank. Back in the academy, where assignments had also been given as quests, the descriptions had been these horribly verbose monstrosities filled with superfluous words and lore. Things like “In order to become better acquainted with the way in which spirits communicate and express their desires, you must endeavor to speak with them, as Aesperion, the Saint of Bells, once did. Consult four (4) minor spirits around the university and summarize your conversations. Two scrolls in length, due by Saint’s Day.”

Shaking his head, Vee followed Alforde into the alley, and though he knew they wouldn’t do him much good if it came down to violence, he balled his hands into fists and held them ready at his sides.

Thankfully though, the alley didn’t appear to be the location of a well-laid trap, as one might expect in a situation such as this. No angry gangs of youthful miscreants leapt out of the windows or came rushing out of the doors with robbery in their eyes and murder in their hearts. It was just an alley, filled with grime and mud and rotting garbage.

In the center of it though, was a good-sized yellow crystal that one didn't have to be a genius to recognize as the source of the light. It pulsed with an even cadence, casting its yellow glow onto the brick walls on either side of the path.

As Vee and Alforde stood there and watched it do its thing – like, what exactly is one supposed to do with a glowing rock? Pick it up? Kick it? Run away? – the glow once again formed itself into a body which sat down on the rock and looked up expectantly at Vee.

It was a small thing, vaguely humanoid with ears that were giant compared to its size and limbs that looked like they had more joints than normal. It brought its knees up and wrapped its arms around them.

“Reckon it wants to talk,” said Alforde.

Like the brothers had done before, Vee just looked at him for a few seconds. Then, shaking his head he knelt down so that he was looking into the spirit’s eyes and touched his left hand to his lips.

[Commune With Spirits]

Just like always, using the skill caused Vee to feel a pinch at the back of his throat, and he had to swallow a few times before he felt normal once again.

“Hi. I’m Vee Vails. Nice to meet you. What can we do for you?” he asked.

The spirit opened its mouth – revealing several teeth that looked surprisingly sharp for being made out of energy – and smiled.

“Well now, it's been a while since I last spoke to a fellow gentleman. Or…anyone, for that matter. Pleased to meet you, Vee. My name’s Reginald, and I’d be mighty pleased if you could find me a vessel.”

Vee looked down. “You mean, beyond this rock?”

The spirit leapt up with all the indignity and swagger it could muster. “It’s a core, thank you very much. Not just a rock. I am a [Core Spirit], I'll have you know.”

“My apologies,” Vee said with all the sincerity he could muster. [Core Spirits] tended to be on the fussy side, and they were powerful enough that it was worth taking steps to avoid pissing them off. Unless you liked having your body perforated by fragments of core when their tantrums caused them self-destruct. “I might be able to help you. What sort of vessel would you like?”

Reginald stood still and thought for a moment, and then pointed to a dumpster a few feet further into the alley. “About a week ago, there was a hat that got thrown away in that dumpster. It looked comfortable, and very stylish. I think I’d like to possess it.”

Growing tired of squatting, Vee sat down on the ground and crossed his legs in front of himself. He folded his arms across his chest. Technically speaking, this was totally in his wheelhouse. Moving a spirit from one vessel to another was child’s play for any [Ghost Maestro] over level 5 thanks to the [Zipper Fingers] skill, and he was level 13! Even better, Reginald already knew what vessel he wanted to be transferred into, which removed a lot of the potential headaches from the process. Vessel-inhabiting spirits were notoriously picky and indecisive, and it wasn't uncommon for hapless [Ghost Maestros] to lose days or even weeks helping them find the "perfect" vessel.

Still, Vee couldn’t help but feel a little bit apprehensive. There was something…off about the spirit, not to mention the circumstances themselves, but other than a general suspicion, he couldn’t identify anything specific to be worried about. If he’d been level 15, he could have used [Detect Falsehood] to see if there was something Reginald wasn’t being totally honest about, but alas.

A popup let him know that his time to ponder before making a decision had run out.

[The Core Spirit, Reginald, has asked for you to help him possess a hat. For some reason. Do you accept?]

What was the worst that could happen? Helping spirits was more than half the reason he became a [Ghost Maestro] in the first place, after all.

Vee nodded and the popup faded away.

[Adventurousness +1]

Turning to Alforde, Vee pointed at the dumpster. “Hey, there’s a hat in there that the spirit wants to possess. Could you grab it out for me?”

Alforde waddled to the dumpster, tossed it open and started rooting around in the muck and slime. That type of stuff didn’t bother him. He was made out of metal and had no nose to speak of, after all. After about a minute, the armorsoul straightened up and held up his quarry as if it were a treasure.

It was a crooked blue top hat with a wide brim thoroughly covered in half-eaten bits of food and other debris.

Reginald looked at and scowled. “Erm, it wasn’t that dirty when it was thrown away. Maybe I should reconsider…”

Vee scooped up the core and Reginald’s body vanished back into the rock. He knew how this "reconsidering" was going to play out if he didn’t nip it in the bud right now. “Don't be silly, good spirit. That hat is a perfectly good vessel. My friend and I will go ahead and get it cleaned up and then we’ll transfer you over. How’s that sound?”

The core glowed in Vee’s hand for a few moments before Reginald’s voice filled his senses once again.

“I suppose that will suffice.”

Vee let Alforde carry the hat, but he took the core and the two friends left the alley. They fell into conversation as they resumed their trek to the ogre's boarding house. As such, they completely failed to notice the girl skulking in the shadows behind them. Their obliviousness didn’t surprise her though, because she’d been following them since they left the Grinning Pig and they hadn’t even thrown a cursory glance backwards since being left on their own. She shook her head, and the tip of her [Pumpkin Witch]’s hat flapped back and forth.

Tourists. If she’d been the type of follower that meant to take their belongings – sadly all too common in Oar’s Crest – they would have been easy prey.

But she wasn’t. She was an adventurer in training, and she decided that it was no longer worth trying to grind out points for her stealth skill by following these two. There just wasn’t any challenge in it.

Adjusting her hat so that the pumpkin ornament that adorned the brim was back where it belonged, the girl shook her head, kicked a small rock down the street with one heavy boot, and faded into the night.

Stat Sheets:

Vee Vails:

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 13

Secondary Class: None

Might: 6

Wit: 18

Faith: 11

Adventurousness: 4 (+2)

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Clunker (Vee Vails), Level 9

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vails), level 7

Might: 12

Wit: 10

Faith: 20

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vails): 3 (+3)

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

Secondary Class: Schemer (Self), Level 26

Might: 1

Wit: 24

Faith: 2

Ambition: 17

Greed: 15

[OTHER STATS BLOCKED AND HIDDEN BY ORDER OF JACQUES MALUW VII]