Melly stood over the fallen swindler with a foot on his neck. She thought of her village and the destruction of her house by the strange zealot mages. She put one and two together and stared at the potential orchestrator of the devious plot.

"Please!" Fredreek squealed. "Don't kill me."

"Then talk!" Melly growled. "Who gave you the idea to attack our town?"

"What attack?" Fredreek groaned under her heel. "I sold the gas bomb years ago. I sold many like it. I don't know about any town."

"Bull crap!" countered Derrick, "those zealots were sent by you weren't they."

"Wait, zealots?" he coughed. "Wearing robes of brown, sometimes black. Have smelly totems and strange staffs?"

"Like this?" Clemiticus asked, plunging his hand into his pocket and pulling out a staff of subjugation.

Fredreek nodded furiously. "Ah! Now I know who attacked you," he quickly spoke, “it was she."

"She?" Melly roared, "stop stuttering. Talk!"

Fredreek whimpered but continued, "I’ve never met her in person. I’ve only heard her voice. The zealot mages came into town years ago and threw a party and they offered me some treasure for a powerful magical object."

"Treasure?" Clemiticuses' ears perked up.

"Shush!" Melly ordered.

"AH, Yes. I said I had a rare magical bomb that would cause death in the most horrific way and they threw treasure my way. During the party, the zealots produced a strange square mirror. They cast magic on it and it changed. Inside was a picture of an enormous castle made of dark grey stone."

"Greystone you say?" Nuecus asked. His face was pensive. “Like Ashenstone?”

"Yes, grey stone. Like the kingdom to the south-east. From within came a woman's voice." Fredreek explained. "Such a beautiful but terrifying voice."

"And the woman said?" Melly pushed.

"Nothing much. Just about a war. She needed powerful artifacts to destroy her foe. The more interesting and obscure, the better," he answered, snivelling.

Melly harrumphed, "so, it's her fault our village burned down?"

"Yes!" Fredreek screamed, clutching at Melly's legs. "She commands the Zealots. I only sold that one bloody thing to the woman."

"Get off me!" Melly said, kicking the man away.

Clemiticus moved beside Melly and pulled the man back. For the briefest of moments, she was surprised to see that Clemiticus was finally doing something helpful, until she realised that he pushed the pathetic old man over and tore off his shoes.

"Finally! Boots!" Clemiticus shouted gleefully. "Look how flashy they are."

"Um, Clem. I don't think this is the time to do that." Derrick said, noticing the bloodthirsty scowl that had now taken up residence across Melly's face.

"Pfft, nonsense! I've been after a pair ever since my wolfy boots fell apart." Clemiticus replied. "Great stats. Increased sneakiness."

Melly promptly stormed over to Clemiticus and punched him square in the face. Or at least she meant too. Just at that moment, the final boot came loose, and Clemiticus fell away from the mighty blow. Fredreek’s weight twisted around just int time for a red-faced Melly to send her fist directly towards his nose.

"Clemiticus has stolen the item, Fine Leather boots." Fairy cheered.

"Ah!" Fredreek screamed.

"Now, why did you have to do that?" Clemiticus asked. "He was helpless on the floor."

"Calm down, everyone!" Derrick shouted.

"But Dad?" Melly replied in a whine.

"Dad?" Fredreek muttered between sobs. A fresh line of blood now flowed down his chin.

"We need to have a plan for what to do next," Derrick added.

"This travesty is very enjoyable to watch," Nuecus said, sitting down on the remains of the bed. "You stupid criminals are thoroughly entertaining."

"Not helping Nuecus." Derrick chastised.

"I don't care," Clemiticus said. "I've got my loot, so I think it's time we leave!"

"My beautiful fortune!" Fredreek said then squealed. Before anyone could react, the bald old man ran towards the sack of treasure barefoot. In a second, the bald man had grabbed the sack and slung it over his shoulder. The bickering party members barely had time to move before the bald man had run towards the stairs.

Then something surprising happened. The shoeless old trickster ran directly through the puddle of the green giant's potion. Now, if he had his trusty boots on, he would have run right through it with no problems. However, having only socks on his feet he was entering a dangerous territory. Adding the extra weight of the loot sack and the speed that he was going; things were not looking great for the mayor.

Unfortunately for Fredreek, that side of the room also had a carriage sized hole in it. Melly, Clemiticus, Derrick and Nuecus all watched in shock as the crazy old mayor of Bluehill town flew through the room and right out of the hole. There he was met with the loving embrace of gravity.

"My Loot!" Clemiticus bellowed as the bald man and his sack fell out of sight.

BING!

"Clemiticuses party has completed the optional quest: Donate the stolen treasure to charity. Clemiticus and his party have received exalted status and reputation with the people of Bluehill town," the fairy sang.

"Noooooo!" Clemiticus roared. "My Looooooot!"

Melly sighed. How would she get her compensation now?

Bing!

A red light flashed.

"A Chain quest has been activated. After the defeat of the evil Mayor, Clemiticus and his party members have stumbled upon the secret of the evil Queen! The rewards of this quest are rated as ascended Legendary. You will receive the sum of one million gold each in completion."

"Loot?" Clemiticus changed tack instantly. "WE NOBLE HEROES ACCEPT!"

"Noble?" Melly spat incredulously.

Bing!

"Clemiticuses party has completed the retribution quest of Fredreek Von Lousy! All party members have been rewarded with a personal lucky dip!" A fairy's voice resounded.

"Sweet!" Clemiticus cheered.

A yellow reward light flashed above Melly. She sighed and slapped the square box that appeared. A picture of a full leather suit flashed into existence.

"Ranger’s medium armour. Black." she read aloud. "Rarity, rare."

Down the bottom, the box had the text 'click here to equip'. So, she resigned herself and clicked it. Instantly, her tarnished clothes from her home disappeared. In their place was a thin layer of well-tanned black leather covering every part of her body except for head.

"W, what.?" Melly stammered while examining her recently buffed clothes. "Seriously?"

Nuecus whistled in appreciation.

"Shut it, you pervy old man," Melly said. A small square to her side flashed. It read 'change to village clothes set'. Her hand instantly darted towards the writing and pressed down. Her skin tight leather armour faded back into her regular fitting comfortable clothes once again.

"Awww?" Nuecus responded.

She gave him a withering glance then noticed Nuecus’ expression of disappointment was mirrored all over Clemiticus.

Could this quest have any moments where she was not embarrassed or pissed off for at least one second? She thought bitterly.

"Oh, well." Clemiticus mumbled as he looked over his own personal loot.

Nuecus received a large staff of Thaumaturgy and Derrick was given a run-of-the-mill blacksmith hammer. These, however, were nothing compared to the prize that Clemiticus was lucky enough to claim.

A white light flashed from within the ruined bedroom and Fairy announced triumphantly that his master had obtained something wonderful.

"Clemiticus has received the item, Fates calling trinket, of vocational destiny!" Fairy announced.

"Ooooohhhh..." Clemiticus oohed.

Melly shrugged her shoulders.

Fairy continued, "Clemiticus has the exclusive ability to evolve his class and obtain one of the unique heroic classes."

Hell yeah!" Clemiticus cheered.

"Well done, son!" Nuecus complimented.

"Congrats," Derrick added.

"Hurry up," drawled Melly.

"Your three choices of Heroic class are as follows," instructed Fairy.

"Number one. The Death Knight. An unmatched warrior who commands the dead. Wears heavy armour and uses dark magic to subjugate his foes. A Dark knight's supremacy can rival some of the mightiest demons in the land."

"Sounds good so far," Clemiticus commented.

Nuecus nodded pensively, but Derrick shook his head disapprovingly.

"Sounds powerful but way too evil for me," said Derrick.

"Number two, the Holy champion of the light. A powerful paladin with the almighty power to reduce your enemies to powder. They use heavy armour, two handed weapons and light magic. Their strength can even match that of the Gods."

"Holy cow." Clemiticus gasped.

"Solid choice." Derrick nodded.

"And the last. Swashbuckling Pirate. Enjoys sailing and treasure."

"SOLD!" Clemiticus yelled. "I chose the Pirate!"

"WHAT?!" The other three shouted in unison.

"Are you insane?" Melly yelled.

In an instant, Clemiticus glowed. His clothes dissolved until he was only in his underpants.

"My boots!" Clemiticus cried.

A strange melody echoed within the ruined bedroom as a random parrot soared in through the giant hole in the wall followed by a chorus of sea shanties. The bright red macaw swooped in and landed on Clemiticus’ shoulder.

Where the hell did that thing come from? Wondered Melly.

As soon as the parrot connected with him an explosion of clothes surged over Clemiticus.

A bright white thrill shirt washed over his chest and was immediately surrounded by a long dark coat with round golden buttons. Dark black pants rushed up from the ground and covered his legs, fastening itself to his waist with a thick red sash. Gigantic boots flooded around his shins like a leather ocean current.

A long scimitar appeared on his hip complete with a golden sheath. A brown pistol spun from nothing and settled within the black coat and secured itself with a holster. Just as Melly thought the tide of clothing had stopped, a gigantic wide-brimmed black hat complete with an absurdly long white feather, fell from the roof and landed atop his head.

Clemiticus basked in the glory of his new outfit and said the only word that fit. "ARRRGHGHHH!!!"

Bing!

The white light vanished, and the blue light returned.

"Yaaay!" Fairy cheered. "You have begun the quest chain: Confront the evil Queen. To do this, you must travel north and make peace with the Ocean Lord, secure a boat and sail over the great ocean! "