It was time to face the music and find out just how fucked I was. Granted, I was pretty sure they weren’t going to be that mad with me for interfering with their battle, but damn that woman soldier was cold. And apparently important too…

“Aly, keep your eyes peeled when we go into this encampment. I am not sure how far we can trust this little army here.” I caught her nod from the corner of my eye and stood from the ground, dismissing all of my windows.

“You got it boss. I will watch from on high and try to warn you before that woman finishes what she started.” Her tone was entirely serious, and it made me stop in my track and glare at her. “What? Don’t give me that look. I was looking right at where she popped up out of nowhere! She must have a Fairy of her own with stealth skills.”

I sighed and shook my head. The attitude Aly was growing at least kept me on my toes. I considered making a remark back, but the thought of bickering good naturedly as we walked – or more precisely, I walked while Aly floated – into the army camp didn't sit well with me.

There were only a few large tents set up at the back of the clearing, some fires burning brightly between the dark green material of the shelters. Each tent looked like it could hold ten or twelve people inside of it, and one was obviously for injured people awaiting healing judging by the lines of people moving in and out of it.

The quest marker on my mini map lead me farther into the area, past the big tents and fires to a wide space full of milling bodies. In the center of the mass of people sat a table which seemed to be the point of interest for those gathered. Well, that and the tall man in golden armor standing in front of said table at least. Actually, probably more that man than the table. Nobody wants to talk to a table…

As my steps carried me closer an aisle formed for me, which I have to say was kind of creepy. The more I looked at these NPCs, the more something seemed off to me and I couldn’t quite place what it was no matter how hard I tried.

Closing in on the table, I stopped just at the edge of it and stood straight. Behind me I heard the soldiers all close ranks again, blocking my escape. I could probably get out using Temporal Step, but it would be a near thing and I would still probably get caught. Hopefully it didn’t come to that and things wouldn’t be quite so dire.

Looking to the man in golden armor, I admired the craftsmanship of his gear, my fingers lightly drumming on the table as I considered the possible stat bonuses of that set of exquisite armor. Probably something like a total of +30 to two or more stats…

“Ahem…” A voice brought me out of my stray musings, deep and clear with the hint of a musical quality to it. Looking up, I saw the commander was staring at me while I stared in longing at his chest… Yeah, I would have been creeped out too I supposed. “So. You are the one who decimated the rear ranks of the goblin forces?” He looked me up and down quickly, almost dismissing me off hand until his eyes caught sight of Aly. Seeming to freeze for a few moments, I was about to say something when he continued. “I see. That explains a good deal. What is your name, dear Fairy?”

A loud click was heard in the silence, my jaw snapping closed in surprise when the man addressed Aly instead of me… What the fuck? Apparently I was not liked…

Aly settled down on my left shoulder in her normal spot, her features serene enough given the circumstances. “I am Alysandaria the Chronomancer. Bonded partner to Calamity the Soul Reaper.” She laid her hand on the top of my head at my name, adding in the Divine title I had gained from the last battle. “Commander, is there a reason why you have armed soldiers breathing down the back of our necks? I would appreciate some breathing room please.”

I winced at her words, peering around me hesitantly. Yeah, she was getting a bit too cheeky. Surprisingly enough, the man in gold just laughed loudly and sincerely, probably from a combination of Aly’s audacity and my expression. It took him a moment to get himself under control, and when he did a finger wiped away a tear of mirth from his eye before waving a hand through the air. “Sorry, Lady Alysandaria. Give us some privacy everyone. I will reconvene the meeting in an hour.”

Most of the people around us left then, with the exception of a half dozen soldiers, one of which was the female who glared daggers at me still. What was her problem? Aly’s voice cut my musings off. “Thank you, that is a lot better.” She gave the commander a winning smile, hand still on my head like I was a pet. Meh, so long as it didn’t get me killed I supposed she could do as she wished.

“Forgive me, future Matriarch. I was unaware that you accompanied this man when I asked my soldiers to invite him here.” Giving a slight bow to Aly, he continued to ignore me as if I was on par with the table. “Now that you are here, I can understand how a simple Human was able to deal so much damage to my enemies. Please, tell me Alysandaria. What brings you here?”

A smirk of amusement quirked my Fairy’s lips as she glanced at me. “Perhaps you should ask Calamity here that question? He is my Contracted partner and I cede to his desires in where we go and what we do.”

Mister high and mighty gold armor finally focused on me once more, a frown on his lips. “I see… Well then Calamity, same question.” And there was the condescension again. Just as I was missing that tone…

“You know what? Aly, can you take us back in time so we can help the goblins instead of these ungrateful bastards?” I pulled a card from the commander’s book and ignored him right out, instead looking at Aly sitting on my shoulder. I did catch a look of shock cross the tall man’s face at my words, but didn’t address him directly.

Aly, for her part, merely tilted her head in thought with one finger tapping her pursed lips. “Hmmm… Maybe someday I will gain such an ability, but for now I am afraid I cannot change the past no matter how recent. Besides, If I did that than your Divine title might be taken away. You are a Chosen of the gods now Calamity, time to step up!”

“Right, cheeky attitude is in full swing. No ale for you when we get back to the city!”

“Wait! No, no, no! I was joking!” She raised her hands in front of her, shaking them side to side as if to take her words back. “Come on Calamity, be nice to me. I am cute!” She tilted her head, hands clasped together by her ear and rapidly blinked her electric blue eyes at me innocently.

I couldn’t hold back the laugh and was once more surprised to hear the soldiers around us laughing as well, including the commander. Looking over at them, they had all seemed to have relaxed. Well, all except the woman soldier who was still glaring at me. Did I step on her foot during the battle and not notice?

Between fits of laughter, the commander spoke again. “Hah… Forgive me… I am sorry for how I treated you, Calamity.” With a deep breath, he straightened up and placed his left hand on the table, right extended over it towards me. “My name is Caius Sylden, commander of the Fae forces currently here to retrieve the key back to our lands stolen by the goblin Outriders.”

As he introduced himself, his nameplate changed to reflect the information. I stretched out my hand and shook his carefully, curious as to what kind of key they had lost and… Wait. Fae?

Quest Completed!

You have completed the quest Meet the Commander.

Rewards: Access to Unique quest chain

Continue your discussion with Commander Sylden to obtain details about your reward.

What? No experience? No shiny new gear? Bullshit… Then again, Unique quest line should give me a huge bonus. No, wait. Back it up a bit. Fae? “Uhm, Commander Sylden… You are a Fae? What is that? I am so confused here…”

Caius smiled and raised his hands to his head, lifting the helmet off and setting it on the table to reveal close cropped jet black hair and long pointed ears. He looked like what most games called an elf more than anything else. “Yes, a Fae. Cousins to Fairies, but not quite so tiny.”

“Ahem! Who are you calling tiny? You are just compensating…” Aly sniffed and crossed her arms, head turning to the side.

“But Aly, you are tiny…” I couldn’t resist poking fun at her, and her exasperated expression made it all worthwhile as her mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to think of something to say in response to that. “Anyway, Commander, you said something about looking for a key? Can you explain any more about that and yourselves?”

Caius shrugged and leaned against the table. “Sure. I do owe you for assisting us before. Let’s see here, as I said, Fae are the cousins of Fairies. My ancestors and the ancient Fairies came to these lands a very long time ago, before Humans emerged to this plane. See, this world was empty when we came here, and both the Fae and Fairies lived peacefully for many years. They developed the lands, made their cities in conjunction with nature, and even welcomed a few other races that immigrated here when their planes became unable to sustain their numbers.

“First came the Elves, which appear similar enough to the Fae that we welcomed them as brothers and sisters. Next came the Dwarves who were more than happy to leave us alone and delve deep into the ground in search of their precious minerals and gems. After them came a few other races, not all of them good, until finally the Humans emerged into this world.

“Violent, short lived and greedy, the Humans began to conquer the land as if it all belonged to them. War-like and vicious, the original races tried to live peaceably with the Humans, but to no avail. They wanted everything they set their sights on and would not take no for an answer. At first, we tried to give them as much as we could spare, for we were numerous then and had needs of our own, but it was never enough.

“For almost two decades the Humans pressed on and on, killing all they encountered in order to attain more land for themselves. Oh, they died by the droves, but were so proliferous that it turned out to be impossible to kill them fast enough!” He broke off here with a sigh, shaking his head.

“Not even the Dwarves were able to escape their deprivations, and soon enough they had enough of Man and locked their gates to the surface, sequestering themselves to the deeps beneath the surface. And they had the right of it. The Elves were the next to leave, sailing across the oceans to another continent where there were no Humans to desecrate their sacred forests and temples. When it came time for us to leave, the Fairies had misgivings.

“Always, the Fairies were the voice of peace and reason to all the races, even us Fae. A small portion of their number refused to leave, hoping to change the nature of Human kind in an attempt to allow all of the races to once again live in reasonable peace. So it was, the bulk of my people and those of the Fairies abandoned this part of the world, locking ourselves into another plane close to this one. We refused to go too far, for fear of leaving the rest behind forever.”

As he spoke, Caius flipped over one of the papers on the table and drew out a picture of a large island. Connected to it was a tunnel of some sort that lead to another island of almost similar size and shape, little differences marked it as separate though. On this side of the tunnel he drew a gate with a heavy lock to signify the barring of the way across without a key.

“Every so many years, a force of my kind make the trip back to this plane in hopes that the goal of the Fairies had come to pass and the Humans had finally become peaceful enough to reunite with the Fairies who remained here. This time however, we were beset upon by goblins almost as soon as we made it through the Realm Gate.”

He glanced over his shoulder towards his daughter, who now had a look of shame on her face. “Our scouts missed the pack of monsters, and our camp was ambushed in the night by a pack of Outriders. They killed a few of our group, and stole several things. One of the stolen items was the key to return to our plane.”

Got it, little miss attitude over there fucked up and got them stranded here, and because I was a Human, she hated me on principle. That about sums it up at the least… Right then, backstory filled in, I remembered the key I had found before and pulled it out of my inventory.

“Is this the key you were missing, Commander?” Extending my hand out, key on my palm, I raised a brow at the Fae.

He picked the item up and looked it over before placing it back in my palm with a shake of his head. “No, it is not. It is slightly enchanted, but just a normal key I think. What we are looking for is a stone, heavily enchanted to open the passage between planes and allow us to cross.”

Wait, did the AI of the game throw me yet another bone? I dumped the Strange Key back into my inventory for future study, and pulled out the stone I got from the chest in the Chieftain’s room with all of the lizards sleeping. No, wait… Bad Dale. I put the item back and closed my inventory.

“I may know where this key is after all. I know I probably sound greedy, but what are you offering to the person who gets it back for you? I mean, I already risked my neck out there to help you all out with no expectations, but I say that was a one-time deal.” The Commander’s daughter opened her mouth to say something, probably cruel and degrading if the set of her face was any indication. I held up a hand towards her and cut her off. “Shut up, Princess. Not going to listen to you. Grown ups are speaking.” I looked directly at Caius the entire time I spoke, not deigning to give the bratty soldier my full attention. “Yes, I am a greedy Human. I have my own interests at heart here, but am willing to try and help you out.” I smirked and held up one finger. “If the rewards are worthwhile that is.”

The woman I dubbed Princess had a shocked look on her face at my casual dismissal of her, obviously not used to such treatment. Her father ignored her too though, a serious look on his face as he crossed his arms over his plated chest in thought. He was taking me seriously it seemed, which was good. I had yet to receive a quest that was promised me by the system, and I was not giving up a potential windfall of rewards.

“Hmmm… Yes, you are greedy.” He studied me closely, then his gaze flicked to Aly. “But you have also gained the trust of a future Matriarch of the Fairy race. I will take that as a sign from the gods and give you a limited amount of trust. The Fairies are important to my people, and if one as powerful as Lady Alysandaria here has chosen you, then I will give you the benefit of the doubt.”

As soon as he spoke, a new quest window popped up before me which made me grin broadly. This is what I was looking for, a concrete system generated outline of what I would get for helping these people out. Enough freebies from me, I had to get stronger as soon as I could!

Quest Received!

The Way Home (1)

The Fae Commander has asked you to hunt down and retrieve the key to allow his entire exploration party back through the Realm Gate so they may return home.

Rewards: Experience, a ring, access to next part of the quest chain

Warning! You are limited in the amount of time available to complete this quest. Bonus rewards possible based on time remaining upon turn in.

Gate Stone: 0/1

Time remaining: 47:59:48

Heh, two days to complete a quest that I very well might be able to turn in immediately. And a bonus based on how soon I complete this quest! Just the reason why I wanted to wait for an exact quest. I would rather have exact details just in case I got ripped off. I checked my inventory and the stone I found indeed now showed two words in addition to the question marks. Quest Item. Perfect.

Withdrawing the unknown stone with the Quest Item tag from my inventory, I held it out right away to Caius. “Is this the Gate Stone, Commander?”

“You crazy son of a bitch!” Princess strode forward and reared her hand up in a fist to punch me. Fuck that noise! I triggered Temporal Step and slipped the stone back into my inventory, moving around the table and getting behind the woman. As soon as the skill ended, I grabbed her wrist and twisted it hard behind her back, lifting up enough that her shoulder threatened to dislocate.

Now pissed beyond measure at this short-tempered bundle of hatred, I hissed into her ear loud enough for all the soldiers present to hear me. “I swear to any and all the gods that I am fed up with your attitude towards me, Princess…”

“My name…” She tried to interrupt me, but a quick jerk upwards made her wince in pain as I held her immobile.

“I don’t care what your name is. You have done nothing but hate me since I met you, and that was after I risked my ass to help you out. I showed you no hostility first, and you attack me not once, but twice now. This I swear, you attack me one more time and nothing in this world will stop me from doing my best to end your life.”

A strange bell sounded in the air as the last of my words faded away, a new system message popping up in front of my sight to accompany the noise. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who heard the bell, as the other soldiers nearby also looked around quickly, then focused in front of them.

You have called upon the gods of Grendor to witness your vow of retribution upon Katherine Sylden in the event of another unwarranted attack. Know that the Divine support you in this claim of just retribution as the bearer of a Divine Title. Should Katherine Sylden attempt to attack you again without proper provocation, no punishment will be allowed to befall you should you fulfill your vow.

Something similar to what I saw must have shown before the others near me, as they all looked quite shocked, Commander Sylden most of all. He rounded on his daughter with a look of absolute fury on his face.

“Katherine! This behavior does not suit us! You are remanded to your tent until I can find a suitable punishment for you.” He glared at the younger Fae, adding in another comment to drive his point home. “Know that Divine blessings on his vow or not, I would still support Calamity’s claim on your life should you attack him without reason again.”

The woman sagged in my grip, all fight draining out of her body as the consequences of her actions sank in. I released her and stepped back quickly, not quite trusting that her temper was contained yet. Seeing her merely drop her arm and bow her head to the Commander, I moved back to my original spot. Princess turned and moved off without a word, following her father’s command.

“I am sorry, Calamity. She is young and wild. I did not wish to bring her with us on this venture, and I am finding out again and again that it was indeed a mistake.” Caius raised a hand to his brow and rubbed at one temple with a sigh. “I was not aware that she had attacked you once before now, or I would not have allowed her to be present for this meeting in the first place.” His glare returned, focused on the soldiers behind him. One or all of them must have been the squad that approached me outside of the camp.

“No, it is alright. I cannot say I am the best at controlling my anger much in recent days either. I will follow through on my vow though, if needed. Might be best to keep her far away from me for the time being so she doesn’t draw down some Divine wrath.” I once more withdrew the stone from my inventory and set it on the table before Caius.

Before he regarded the stone, the Commander raised a brow at me in question. “Had some problems in your life in the near past? I understand. Truly I do.” With another sigh of a disappointed father, Caius picked up the stone I set before him and gave a wane smile, nodding. “Indeed, this is the Gate Key. Thank you for returning it to us.”

Quest Completed!

You have completed the quest The Way Home (1)

Rewards: 5000 exp, a ring, access to quest The Way Home (2)

Due to you turning the quest in with over 12 hours on the timer, you have gained a bonus reward.

A magic ring

Due to you turning the quest in with over 24 hours on the timer, you have gained a bonus reward.

A magic amulet

Due to you turning the quest in with over 36 hours on the timer, you have gained a bonus reward.

A legendary quality elixir

Congratulations!

You have gained a level!

Current level: 10

You have gained a Bonus +100 HP

Faction Bonus:

+1 Dex

+1 Blooded Tactician

+1 Inspect

You have 10 stat points available to distribute.

Warning! If you die before assigning your points, they will be lost!

Caius tapped the table, then picked up the Gate Stone and slipped it into his own belt pouch. Probably never wanted to let the thing out of his sight ever again, not that I blamed him. “Right then. Come with me Calamity, I have some rewards for you in my personal tent.” He motioned towards the buildings of fabric and started off, myself falling in beside him. “While we walk, I see that you have no jewelry. Tell me, what traits do you value for yourself?”

Now we were cooking. Windfall of rewards indeed! Lady luck was on my side yet again with having gained the stone before even receiving the quest. There was probably an arc where I had to meet these Fae before completing Vermund’s quest in order to draw out the Chieftain. Oh well, I did it all backwards. More goodies for me!

“Ah, well for myself I seem to be focusing on agility, intellect and fortitude, with a dash of strength mixed in for good measure. My partner is a glutton and devours mana like it is going out of style.” Aly scoffed at me and thumped the top of my head with one tiny fist. Yeah, I deserved it.

The Commander found my words amusing, and chuckled lightly as we walked by the first tent. “I think I shall withhold my comments on that statement, for health reasons.” He smirked at me and winked to Aly who giggled. “But besides that, I think I have a few things that will be handy on your journey as well. Also, after I give you these items, I would ask you to join me once more and hear me out on another request.”

We turned into the second tent, the inside containing rows of bedrolls with a chest at the head of each one. Seemed the Commander slept right with his men and didn’t desire special treatment. Caius stopped at one of the chests in the middle of the pack and knelt down to open the box. Two rings, an amulet and a vial were all set down before me.

“Here we are, your rewards. From my own personal stash of goodies, no less.” That drew a chuckle from both of us as I picked up the items and inspected them. “One ring will enhance your strength, the other your intellect. The amulet actually holds a few charges of a powerful regeneration spell which restores both health and mana. The elixir is, unfortunately, beyond my understanding. None of my people could ascertain what it does, but it is quite rare. They all agree on that point.”

I looked over each item as he explained it, +6 to both Int and Str for the rings. The Amulet was actually the best of the jewelry in my opinion. It gave me a regen of 500 HP and mana over 20 seconds with a 20 second cooldown, and it could stack with potions. The only downside was that it had a mere five charges to the item.

The vial was indeed unknown with only an item name of Legendary Elixir and a bunch of question marks for the rest. Oh well, will have to save that for when I get back to the city. All of my new items went on, the vial going into my inventory. While I was at it, I assigned my stat points as per my usual routine and whistled softly as my stats began to really take shape like I had hoped.

My new friend Commander Sylden sat down on his bedroll and motioned me down to join him. From his personal chest, the Fae pulled a wineskin out to take a drink before offering it to me. “Now then, my request. Our numbers have been severely depleted from this fiasco, and I fear we may lose even more should we try to fight our way back to the Realm Gate alone. What I wish to ask of you is this. Would you be willing to help escort us back to the Gate so I may try and lose no more of my people?”

Quest received!

The Way Home (2)

Commander Sylden has asked that you join the Fae forces in the effort of making sure as many of his unit get home safely as possible. With a fighting force of only 78 Fae remaining, Commander Sylden is determined to lose no more of his soldiers without cause.

Rewards: Experience, coin

Bonus rewards available based on percentage of surviving Fae upon turn in.

I immediately accepted his quest, then rubbed my chin in thought for a moment. No great rewards were shown, but I assumed the good stuff would come if all of the Fae soldiers survived the return trip. Clever AI, yet bastards all the same.

I had an idea, and ordered my thoughts while taking a swig of the offered wine. It was really quite good, the best I had tasted in the game as of yet, and had to offer a sip to Aly, lest she get upset with me later about it. I passed the skin back to Caius and pressed forward with my suggestion.

“Would it be possible to wait a few more days before returning to your own plane? I have at least one friend, maybe two, coming this direction as we speak. I have known them both for a very long time and would be able to vouch for their integrity. With their help, the chances of getting your people all home alive rise a great deal.”

Taking my words to heart, Caius didn’t reply right away. He took another sip of the wine and passed it around once more as he thought it over. “Hmmm… I suppose it would be better to have the extra swords. I cannot guarantee that I can compensate them as dearly as I have done for you thus far though… We didn’t exactly pack a lot of useless gear for this trip after all.”

My head bobbed in a nod as I accepted his terms. “That is fine, I am sure they will join just for the fact that it will be interesting, although any rewards given will be gratefully accepted.” Had to add that last part, lest I sign Archie and Kayla up for a quest with no payment. Even I am not that cruel… After Aly and I had another taste of the wine, Caius returned it to his chest and closed the lid, locking it up once more.

“Very well then. We will need a day to settle our wounded anyway, so one more on top of that shouldn’t be an issue. The goblin forces have been severely weakened here, so I don’t think we will need to worry about them so long as we keep a good night watch going.” A twist of his face made me think it was a pained look, but I couldn’t quite tell. “On the downside, I am afraid I cannot let you stay within the encampment during our wait. My daughter is looked upon as an idol among the bulk of my troops, and your vow to her may ruffle a few feathers, as it were. For everyone’s safety, I would ask that you return to your city and then bring your friends back when the time comes.”

The Fae had a point, the respect and admiration shown to Princess when the squad came to collect here was rather apparent, and like most idol worshippers, I didn’t put them above underhanded tricks to pay me back for my treatment of the woman. “Right, not a problem. I would need to meet them in Tyrith city anyway in order to guide them to this location. It works out for the best then, as I have just enough time to make it back before full dark. I hope.”

With a friendly pat on the shoulder, Caius stood up. “I am sure you will have enough time. You and Lady Alysandaria are quite fast when the need arises.”

I stood up with him and chuckled, then tilted my head to him. “That reminds me, you and I need to have a little chat on the way to the Realm Gate about why you call Aly ‘Lady’ and ‘future Matriarch’ so much. I don’t have the time now, but I will be expecting answers on the trip.”

“Yes, yes. Of course I can explain that. Not quite a quick topic, so I agree that the journey would be a better time. Go now, and best of luck from fate and all the gods be with you.” He waved me off with a smile and headed in the direction of the table set up in the clearing once more. Busy man, Caius.

I rubbed my hands together and started walking through the camp, the eyes of the Fae soldiers following my every step on my path away from them all. I would have to deal with the issue when I returned, but it could wait and simmer for a couple days while I get my stuff in order. I had quests to turn in and loot to sell! The best part of any game right there.